Aug 15, 2021 (bangkokpost.com) - Sales in Japan's animation production industry fell 1.8% on year in 2020, the first drop in a decade.
Hit movies such as the record-breaking success of the film on the blockbuster Demon Slayer manga series failed to offset the pandemic impact, according to a credit research firm.
The industry's sales totaled 251.1 billion yen (76 billion baht) last year, down from a record 255.7 billion yen in 2019, Teikoku Databank said in a recent survey report.
In the movie business, the industry had smash-hit Demon Slayer -- The Movie: Mugen Train, which became the highest-grossing film in Japanese box-office history with more than 40 billion yen in revenue.
Among other hit movies was Violet Evergarden: the Movie, a Kyoto Animation Co film which some of the victims of the deadly arson attack at a studio of the company two years ago had been working on.
Still, the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed production processes at many studios, leading 48.6% of 300 animation production companies surveyed to report a sales fall in 2020.
While average annual sales per company fell for the first time in four years in 2020 with 831 million yen, some 31.6% said their sales rose last year.
