Photo Credit: King Records
A new interactive anime has broken Japanese box office records on limited release. ‘Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle’ earned JPY2.5 billion ($16.5M) despite averaging a run of fewer than 60 screens throughout its theatrical run.
The film is part of the ‘Hypnosismic’ franchise, which was developed at King Records in 2017 and features a story where weapons are banned and instead men must rap battle to prove their supremacy. The ‘Hypnossismic’ universe is an extended one, with releases in music, radio dramas, manga, stage productions, games, and anime series.
The Toho-distributed, King Records film launched February 21 in 85 venues, utilizing Kino Industries’ CtrlMovie platform to let audiences vote via smartphone on plot developments in real time. The film built momentum through word-of-mouth and grew its audience for eight straight weeks, with repeat customers accounting for over 80% of the total box office haul.
According to Variety, no Japanese film has crossed the JPY 2 billion mark on fewer than 100 theaters since tracking began in 2004. A September 2 nationwide re-release propelled the film back into the Top 10 list in Japan—marking a second successful run for the film.
“By crossing this milestone, ‘Hypnosis Mic’ validates interactive cinema as a lucrative new frontier—confirming that branched-narrative movies on average generate four to six times the revenues of regular films, a factor that producers, distributors, and exhibitors will be watching closely as our CtrlMovie-powered format expands worldwide, with new films currently in the making,” shared Tobias Weber-Ingold, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Kino Industries.
The CtrlMovie system was developed by Kino Industries since 2018 and enables collective audience decision-making that branches narratives seamlessly during screenings, with each show producing a unique experienced based on viewer input. Multiple English-language productions are using the technology in production as the company expands its footprint.
“CtrlMovie is doing for story what IMAX did for scale,” says Scott C. Silver, COO of Kino Industries. “It delivers a premium, participatory experience that connects audiences more deeply to what’s happening on screen — and while we’re starting in theaters, the same technology is built to extend seamlessly into home and gaming environments, creating an ecosystem where every screen can be interactive.”
