Japanese IP Adaptation Becomes Hollywood’s Next Franchise Pipeline

The global entertainment industry’s search for successful IP is increasingly leading to Japan. Speaking at the Cannes Film Market, One Piece live-action producer Tetsu Fujimura outlined how Japanese intellectual properties have evolved from the domestic entertainment market into major Hollywood investment.

Japanese IP consultancy and production company Filosophia Inc. CEO Fujimura presented 45 years of data showing the growth of IP-based movies from the 1970s to recent times. His presentation, The Future of Japanese IP in Global Adaptations, was part of Japan’s Country of Honor designation programming.

He argued that anime, manga, and gaming properties are becoming foundational assets for multinational film and television projects with upcoming productions spanning Mobile Suit Gundam, Attack on Titan, Ghost of Tsushima, and the like. 

The Commercial Logic Behind Japanese IP Adaptation Growth

Fujimura believes “a remarkable future lies ahead for Japan’s IP, which contains some of the richest creative resources in the world.” To back his arguments, he cited Titlemax data of the global top 25 IPs by all-time revenue, out of which ten properties belong to Japan.

Pokémon, Hello Kitty, and Anpanman are the highest-revenued Japanese IPs in that list, with Pokémon having $92.1 billion USD in estimated lifetime revenue. Hello Kitty and Anpanman follow behind with $80B and $60.3B revenues, respectively.

2025’s anime theatrical breakthrough Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yabu Infinity Castle ranked seventh in 2025’s global top 10 movies. A previous Cinema United report from 2025 also credited anime films and video game adaptations as reasons for 25% increase in Gen Z’s movie theatre presence.

Fujimura further presented Nikkei’s June 2025 report, which recorded an economic shift within Japan’s domestic market. The report showed the cumulative revenue by the top nine Japanese media companies, ¥53.8T (~ $359B), surpassed that of the top nine Japanese automakers, ¥48.1 T (~$321B), for a limited time.

The Increasing Japanese IP-Based Production Efforts Across Global Markets

Global Japanese IP adaptation projects have increased significantly within the last three decades. During the 1990s, Filosophia tracked only 25 Japanese IP-based adaptations, which have grown into 88 productions in the 2020s.

The adaptations span both TV series and feature films. Europe and the U.S. mostly focus on film adaptations primarily based on gaming IPs.

South Korea accounts for 46% of Asia’s Japanese IP adaptation market, with mostly TV adaptations. IP sourcing also differs regionally. In Asia, novels and manga are used as the primary source materials, accounting for 34% and 32% of the adaptation efforts, respectively.

Some of the Hollywood-Confirmed Japanese IP development slate includes:

Apart from television and theatrical adaptations, Japanese IPs have expanded into stage plays and musical formats as well. Fujimura also talked about “next tier of IPs,” citing that most of current prominent IPs have already been licensed to studios.

The session highlighted how Japanese IP adaptations have grown over decades, and Japan has become a sourcing library for international productions. However, Japanese IP alone does not guarantee success. Previous Hollywood adaptations of major anime IPs such as Death Note (2017), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Dragonball Evolution (2009), and the like have shown limitations of this effort.

On the other hand, the 2023 Netflix One Piece live-action has become a success; the same studio is also adapting Watanabe’s Samurai Champloo. Nonetheless, Fujimura's direction is clear: Japan “can create entertainment that resonates with audiences everywhere – whether in live action, animation, stage productions, or music.”