Fanning Chinese Fandom Through Japanese Animation Is a Winning Strategy for China’s Road Movies

Independent Chinese film distributor Road Movies has already tasted success with a succession of imported Japanese animation films. But the company says that China’s youth market is best accessed through a vastly broader strategy that embraces IP, fandom, events, retail and merchandizing.

“Our aim is to be a Chinese Disney – not in scale. But in terms of being a integrated service,” said Cai Gongming, the company’s entrepreneur founder and CEO. He was speaking Wednesday in Tokyo at a seminar organized by TIFFCOM, the rights market that is allied with the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Many in the audience were his suppliers, purveyors of Japanese content, who have witnessed Cai’s China box office success with titles including “Suzume,” “The First Slam Dunk” and “Spy x Family Code: White.”

In a market where imported films were last year squeezed down to a less than 15% share, Japanese film have held up well. “Top Japanese animation titles can perform as well as Hollywood studio movies in China, but there are not as many,” Cai said.

“Japanese [film IP] is getting stronger in China, because it is backed by TV series, which are shown widely in China, and have a fan base that is more active,” said Cai. “And this is happening despite the two countries tense geo-political relationship.”

The carriage of Japanese content on Chinese TV and streaming platforms has particular significance. These reach the fourth and fifth tier cities where Hollywood films have less impact than in more cosmopolitan metropolises.

Road Movies began a decade ago by importing or co-distributing major commercial titles from independent Hollywood sources. But, in the past five years, it has refocused to make Japanese anime its biggest film category, representing upward of 60% of its business.

Cai explained how a year ago, he set up a new subsidiary GuGuGuGu, which aims to be a one-stop-shop for interactivity, merchandizing and events. Operating at “China speed,” the new unit has worked on 67 different pieces of content, launched 1,600 consumer goods items, developed a fan base of over 1 million and set up six physical stores. A further 30 pop-up stores working with brands including Marvel have also been set up in Chinese multiplexes.

Activities have ranged from “Your Name” coffee to events built around the family movie “Haiku” that extended to 5,000 “theme theaters” and a “Slam Dunk” concert.

Cai explained that the animation, comics and games (ACG) market in China is vast and growing rapidly – he forecast RMB102 billion in 2025 and RMB148 billion ($20 billion) in 2025 – and is expanding at a time when theatrical box office is shrinking.

Growth is driven by demographics that are shifting older and wealthier and by fans who, in something of a digital backlash, increasingly favor emotional values over practical use. That has given rise to a preference for physical tickets over generic QR codes and content that can be downloaded for offline use.

“Fans in China are enthusiastic and demanding,” Cai said.

Next steps for Cai’s business empire are likely to involve a deepening of Japan-China entertainment connections and moves into production or co-production.

“We want to create a win-win Japan-China model. We will open more shops. And would like more IP and to create our own IP,” said Cai. “We want to get involved in coproduction, not just to avoid competition [with Chinese business rivals], but to make products more relevant to fans and, eventually, to do this with Chinese animation too.”