The theatrical success of Jujutsu Kaisen 0 this past March and long-running anime like Black Clover having their very first movies announced for release in the near future are proof that audiences will still flock to their local cinema to see anime films. The most popular franchises often have spinoff movies attached to them, but which ones have dominated the box office throughout the history of anime movies?
Whether they are theatrically released or direct to video and streaming, these impressive collections of films are a reflection of their parent show's lasting quality and popularity with audiences.
Bleach (5 Movies)
The story of Ichigo Kurosaki and the Soul Reapers ran for 366 episodes, with the Bleach anime ending in 2012. During that run, there were four animated movies released. According to MyAnimeList, the most popular among them is the 2010 film Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse, in which the Soul Reapers must fend off an invasion of Earth by the denizens of Hell.
Its fifth film is a live-action Netflix adaptation, released in 2018 and starring Sota Fukushi as Ichigo and Hana Sugisaki as Rukia Kuchiki. The movie adapts most of the manga's first arc but takes many considerable liberties with the story and character beats.
Digimon (10 Movies)
With each new series of Digimon comes new heroes and villains, new Mons, and new opportunities for movie plotlines. Between 1999 and 2020, 10 films starring the DigiDestined and their strongest Digimon partners have been released in theaters - some compilation films and some standalone features.
The most well-known of the films is Digimon: The Movie. Released in 2000, it was cobbled together from several short films, including Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!, leading to noticeable issues with plot and pacing. Nevertheless, it was a box office success.
Dr. Slump (11 Movies)
Anime fans almost definitely know mangaka Akira Toriyama for his acclaimed Dragon Ball series. However, before Dragon Ball, Toriyama wrote the manga series Dr. Slump, centered around the adventures of the robot girl Arale Norimaki and her friends in her hometown of Penguin Village.
The subsequent '80s anime adaptation and its '90s remake spurred 11 films, all produced by Toei Animation. While the only one that reaches feature-length is Dr. Slump: "Hoyoyo!" Space Adventure (which clocks in at 90 minutes, the majority of them have been shown at Toei events and released on VHS and DVD.
Naruto (11 Movies)
Naruto and its second series, Naruto Shippuden, together have 11 movies, with Naruto having three and Shippuden having the other eight. The first three are very highly regarded for their enjoyable plots in which Naruto and his friends take on special missions, and their fun and interesting original characters.
However, according to IMDb, the best Naruto movie is Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, the Shippuden-era film in which Naruto winds up in a parallel universe where Naruto's parents never died, among many other differences in the characters fans know and love. The emotional power and uniqueness of this plot make it the audience favorite.
One Piece (14 Movies)
Since it first began airing in October 1999, One Piece has not only amassed 1,021 episodes but also 14 feature films, released both theatrically and as TV specials. Of these, the most popular, according to MyAnimeList, is the most recently released film, 2019's One Piece Stampede, for its exciting plot and excellent voice cast.
A 15th movie, titled One Piece: Red, is scheduled for release on August 6th, one of the best new anime premiering in 2022. Not much has been revealed about the plot of the film, but fans do know that it involves Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats encountering a mysterious singer called "Uta."
Dragon Ball (23 Movies)
Dragon Ball has released almost two dozen movies over its three mega-popular anime series, over twice as many as Toriyama's previous series Dr. Slump. The thrilling action-packed films see Goku, Vegeta, and the rest of the cast facing new villains, exploring new worlds, and reaching the highest power levels in Dragon Ball.
The next movie in the lineup is Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, already released in Japan on June 11, 2022, and set for worldwide release in August. The Red Ribbon army has been resurrected and come to Earth seeking revenge against Piccolo and Gohan.
Pokémon (24 Movies)
Pokémon's spinoff movies explore just as many regions and storylines as the main series. Often, they will feature Ash Ketchum and company meeting legendary Pokémon even stronger than Mewtwo, whether as an obstacle to be overcome or a new friend and ally that helps them out (sometimes even against an antagonistic legendary).
Many Pokémon movies have been released in theaters, the earliest of which was 1998's Pokémon: The First Movie. The plot of this movie, involving the artificially created legendary Mewtwo amassing a clone army of Pokémon, directly carries over into later movies such as 2001's Mewtwo Returns, 2018's Detective Pikachu, and 2019's Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution.
Case Closed (24 Movies)
Also known as Detective Conan, this series recently passed 1,000 episodes and is still going strong in its almost 26-year run. It is largely episodic in format, centering around genius young detective Shinichi Kudo, who was turned back into a child by a poison attack. Adopting the identity of Conan Edogawa, Shinichi must find out who tried to kill him and how he can turn back into an adult while still solving mysteries.
However, some cases are so fantastic that they need feature films to do them justice. Longer runtime and larger casts mean more suspenseful mysteries and more suspects for Shinichi to investigate. In the most popular film, 2002's Phantom of Baker Street, the cast must fight their way out of a malevolent VR game.
Crayon Shin-Chan (30 Movies)
Just as the popular anime has been airing since 1992, Crayon Shin-chan has been putting out spinoff movies like clockwork from 1993 to just this April. The slice-of-life comedy show and the movies all center around five-year-old Shinnosuke Nohara, whose sole purpose in life is to cause trouble around his hometown.
The movies allow Shin's adventures to reach epic proportions, with increased animation quality and more action alongside all the humor. Movies also better accommodate the show's enormous cast of characters: with feature-length runtimes, everyone gets a chance to shine.
Doraemon (41 Movies)
One of the longest-running anime of all time naturally racks up the most accompanying films of all time. The original Doraemon manga ran from 1969 to 1996, and its multiple anime series are still ongoing today. From 1980 to March 2022, Toho has released 41 feature-length films, and Doraemon has surpassed Toho's other flagship film series, Godzilla, becoming the highest-grossing film franchise in Japan.
The show and movies center around the time-traveling robot cat named Doraemon and his young human friend, Nobita Nobi. As with Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon has an enormous cast, and they all get the spotlight at least once over the dozens of theatrically released films.