"Slam Dunk is Better"... Japan Where 'Avatar 2' Struggles to Shine

High-Budget, Quality Domestic Anime More Popular Than Hollywood Films
"Avatar 2 Is an Anti-Japanese Film Criticizing Japan's Whaling Industry" Opinion Also Expressed

Released on the 14th, the movie 'Avatar: The Way of Water (Avatar 2)', which has been creating a global box office sensation following its predecessor, is struggling unusually in one country: Japan.

On the 23rd (local time), Bloomberg News reported in an article titled "Avatar's Struggle Showing How Japan is Outpacing Hollywood" that Hollywood films are underperforming at the box office in Japan, the world's third-largest film market after China and North America, due to the success of domestic animation.

'The First Slam Dunk,' which ranked first in the Japanese box office last weekend

Last weekend, the number one spot at the Japanese box office was held by 'The First Slam Dunk', followed by 'Suzume no Tojimari' in second place. Both are Japanese animated films. 'Avatar 2' ranked third behind these two. Despite securing the largest number of screens ever for its release and director James Cameron personally visiting Japan to promote the film, 'Avatar 2' has performed much worse than expected. The film currently holds the number one spot in box office rankings in various countries, including South Korea. Additionally, the original 'Avatar' released in 2009 ranked 11th among the highest-grossing films in Japan, earning approximately 15.6 billion yen (about 150.5 billion KRW).

Of course, the competition 'Avatar 2' faces is formidable. 'Slam Dunk' is based on a manga serialized in magazines during the 1990s and later adapted into a legendary TV anime. In South Korea, the protagonist 'Kang Baek-ho' became synonymous with basketball prodigies, reflecting the series' immense popularity. 'Suzume no Tojimari' is a work by renowned animation director Makoto Shinkai, known for 'Your Name' and 'Weathering with You'.

However, Bloomberg noted, "The decline in popularity of Hollywood films in Japan is not sudden," and emphasized that "Hollywood needs to wake up." Bloomberg explained, "In the late 1980s to early 1990s, top Hollywood stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared frequently in Japanese commercials selling instant noodles, and Harrison Ford was seen drinking Kirin beer. But nowadays, it is rare to find popular Hollywood stars in Japanese advertisements. This is not due to a lack of advertising budgets but because Japan is no longer as attracted to Hollywood as before."

Photo by Yonhap News

The market share of American films in Japan has been declining for years, starting before the COVID-19 pandemic and worsening due to it. Among the top five highest-grossing films in Japan this year, four are domestic productions, with 'Top Gun: Maverick' being the only Hollywood film to make the list.

Bloomberg attributed the decoupling phenomenon between Hollywood and Japan to the "qualitative improvement of Japanese animated films." Recently, Japanese animation has been produced with large budgets and high quality, moving away from the past practice of reusing animation and repeating the same action scenes in each episode. As a result, audiences who recognize the value of domestic animation prefer Japanese films over Hollywood productions. Bloomberg also reported that, unlike other countries, the popularity of superhero movies and Disney films in Japan is not what it used to be. The eras of 'Harry Potter,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' and 'Frozen' are now over.

Meanwhile, some suggest that the poor box office performance of 'Avatar 2' in Japan is due to the film's criticism of the whaling industry. Japanese netizens have protested on the official Avatar Twitter account, claiming that 'Avatar 2' is an anti-Japanese film criticizing Japan's whaling industry. In the film, there is a scene where a harpoon is used to hunt creatures similar to whales called 'Tulkun.' The harpoon bears the kanji characters '日浦 (Nippa),' and the hunters are depicted as East Asians. Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 and continues commercial whaling.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.