Answerman

Is Superhero Burnout at the Box Office Affecting Anime Films?

Mister Terrific asks:

"Is superhero burnout at the box office affecting anime films?"

Superhero fatigue* is real. Just take a look at the summer 2024 box office results for Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, The Fantastic Four, and James Gunn's Superman, which I must admit, I really enjoyed.

*Superhero Fatigue, in case you didn't know, is a widely discussed phenomenon, which refers to a perceived decline in audience interest in the genre. This is often attributed to the sheer volume of releases, interconnected and often confusing continuity, and a sense of formulaic storytelling. As a result, many younger viewers are looking for “something different.”

This new slate of American superhero movies failed to ignite the global box office the same way their predecessors had done in the pre-pandemic world. I'm personally a sucker for superhero movies and TV shows. I've watched and enjoyed them all. From Richard Donner's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman, to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (Even Tobey Maguire's “Emo Spider-Man moment in movie number 3), all the way up to today's incredibly diverse slate of offerings, including The Boys, INVINCIBLE, and Sony Pictures Animation's Into The Spider-Verse and so on.

Something Different

If superhero fatigue is affecting anime, it's only in a good way. Reed Richard's loss is Tanjiro Kamado's gain. If we aren't all reading headlines like “Anime Slays at the Box Office” in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter by the end of the month, I'll eat my [straw] hat.

Despite having a lower current global gross, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Infinity Castle is on a path that is likely to outpace Warner Bros.' Superman by the end of its theatrical run. As of early September 2025, Superman has earned approximately $612 million worldwide from a wide, front-loaded release that is now slowing down. In contrast, Demon Slayer has already banked over $300 million from a limited release in just a handful of Asian territories, with a staggering $204 million from Japan alone.

The anime film's true global test begins with its wide rollout to major markets, including North America and Europe, on September 12. Industry projections are highly optimistic, with some analysts believing Demon Slayer could surpass Superman's final gross, which is expected to land around $650 million. This makes the film not only a strong box office contender but also a more profitable one. With a rumored production budget that is a fraction of Superman's estimated total cost (over $400 million, including marketing), Demon Slayer's success for its producers at Aniplex, Sony, and Crunchyroll underscores the growing cultural and financial dominance of anime compared to traditional Hollywood blockbusters.

The Pandemic and the boom in Disney-powered MCU limited series, plus the awful performance of 2023's extricable Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, were the final nails in the superhero coffin. It's no coincidence that at the same time that long-form streaming series became comic book Kryptonite, it was also powering the global demand for anime, whose popularity, especially among teen and young adult audiences, now burns brighter than a thousand suns.

Two years of lockdown allowed an entire generation to consume hundreds of hours of anime. One Piece was not the number one anime globally before 2022-23, which is when the movie One Piece Red became a global box office sensation. 1,000+ half-hours is a stupid amount of content to get through, and the sheer volume of episodes was probably the main barrier preventing more new eyeballs from discovering it. But! Along came the COVID-19 pandemic and several years of lockdowns. Suddenly, people had the time and the inclination to get ballz deep in anime.

“KAPOW!”

Surveys and reports from companies like Crunchyroll have shown that a majority of Gen-Z globally watches anime regularly. One survey found that over 50% of Gen-Z watches anime, putting it on par with or ahead of other major pop culture icons. Another recent essay from an entertainment industry analyst suggests that anime will be an essential part of Disney's strategy to become relevant to Gen-Z audiences.

We've previously discussed the appeal of anime to global audiences, particularly Gen-Z, and I know it's boring to constantly read about these buzzworthy demographic descriptors, especially if that's you (People aged between 12-28 today). Still, the reason we in the film and TV industry obsess over this particular cohort is because the 25-54 age demographic is the only “demo” that matters to advertisers. And today's teenagers will rapidly become tomorrow's 20-something consumers. Brands have to get in early with young consumers. Why do you think UNIQLO has so many manga and anime collaborations in its UT Collection? Because it is the perfect and affordable entry-level product to get teens in-store, discover their brand, and hopefully become a lifelong customer.

Connecting with Gen-Z audiences today is essential for entertainment brands like Disney or Netflix to ensure their future growth and relevance. Shall we recap why we believe that anime has such a strong pull factor for Gen-Z viewers from Tokyo to Shanghai, Riyadh to London, Mumbai to Sacramento? There are three key ingredients. They are:

1. Emotional and Narrative Depth: Anime and manga often tackle a wider range of genres and complex themes, from slice-of-life romance to deep, philosophical sci-fi, offering stories that are complete with a beginning, middle, and end.
2. Creative Freedom: The Japanese production model, often centered on a single creator (mangaka), allows for more unique and personal storytelling, in contrast to the committee-driven, interconnected universes of Hollywood.
3. Accessibility: The rise of streaming services has made anime more accessible than ever before, allowing for easy binge-watching of a series and its related films. This is crucial for a generation that is used to consuming media on demand.

Now! Consider the past 6-7 years of superhero movies, comics, TV series, etc. Can the same be said of them? Is a DC or Marvel graphic novel more affordable than a Viz Media tankoban? Is a cinema ticket for Thunderbolts cheaper than a month's subscription to Crunchyroll? Is there a new Superman BL series available to read, or a romantic, fantasy thriller about real estate agents trapped inside a video game they cannot escape from?

COMICS VERSUS MANGA

Comic books are the natural home of the superhero. And the state of American superhero comic book publishing has never been more perilous. A recent ComicsBeat article highlighted why American comics publishing will never be able to compete at the same level as the big four Japanese manga publishers. To be honest with you, it is unfair even to compare them, but it only further highlights the cultural drift currently at play between America and “The West” more generally, and the soft power pull of Asia, particularly Japan.

We live in an era of infinite content. If you are a fan of manga or anime, you don't want to wait for a bi-monthly installment of your favorite story. Japanese manga is typically published in massive, inexpensive weekly or monthly anthology magazines (like Weekly Shōnen Jump), which are immediately accessible by overseas fans digitally on the Shonen Jump app platform.

Readers can sample many different series at once for a low price. If a series is popular, its chapters are then compiled into paperback volumes (tankōbon). This model is highly effective for discovering new titles and building a readership. Manga tankōbon are often more affordable than their American comic book counterparts, offering hundreds of pages for a price comparable to a single 20-page American comic issue. This makes it a much more accessible hobby.

Manga are largely self-contained stories, even if they run for many volumes. They have a planned ending. In contrast, American superhero comics often exist in a never-ending, convoluted continuity that can be intimidating for new readers. It's the same reason why general audiences have tired of the expanded cinematic story universe model favored by Disney and Marvel. In addition, the manga market is incredibly diverse, and when they do tackle conventional superhero tropes, they fuck around with them and create something unexpected and fresh. This wide variety of genres appeals to a much broader audience, including women and girls.

The reason manga and anime are succeeding where American superheroes are not is that the emphasis is always on the mangaka (manga artist/writer) as the creative force of their stories, which allows for a consistent artistic vision and style. This is different from the rotating teams of writers and artists common in American comics, which can lead to inconsistencies.

I can't help feeling optimistic about where Western genre and fiction are headed, irrespective of where it originates from or what medium it is told in. One thing Hollywood seems to be learning quickly is that Japan doesn't give a flip what we think when they are busy creating their stories, and that perhaps, neither should we.

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