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Man Charged With Illegally Recording Demon Slayer Anime Film
posted on by Alex Mateo
The Chiba Prefectural Police filed charges against a 53-year-old man on Friday for allegedly recording the Demon Slayer - Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime film illegally at a movie theater with his smartphone, thus violating Japan's Copyright Law and the Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Recording of Films. This is the first case of its kind for this particular film in Japan.
Another audience member had called the police to report a man recording the film in the Keisei Rosa 10 theater in Chiba City's Chūō Ward last December. The suspect, a self-described company employee living in Chūō Ward, claimed that he had already seen the movie once before and was recording only the "cool scenes" to watch on his own later. The suspect added that he did not intend to upload the recording, which was about 30 minutes long, to the Internet or to make a profit.
Unauthorized recording of films in theaters is a crime in Japan, under the Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Recording of Films. Uploading such footage to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other services are also copyright violations. People who violate the unauthorized recording law and Japan's general Copyright Law face up to 10 years in prison, up to 10 million yen (about US$90,000) in fines, or both.
The anime studio Khara posted a notice earlier this month about the unauthorized recording and uploading of footage from Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijō-ban :||), the "final" Evangelion film which opened in Japan on March 8. The studio added that charges have already being filed in a similar case that occurred in July 2018.
Suspects were arrested or charged under the law for recording in theaters from Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection in 2010, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer in 2011, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's in 2012, and The Wind Rises in 2014.
Demon Slayer - Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train began screening in Japan on October 16. The film had the highest opening weekend globally for the October 16-18 weekend. The film sold 3,424,930 tickets and earned 4,623,117,450 yen (about US$43.85 million) in Japan in its first three days. The film sold 910,507 tickets and earned over 1,268,724,700 yen (about US$12.03 million) on its opening day alone, making it the highest weekday opening day in Japan ever.
The film has sold a total of 28.12 million tickets and earned a cumulative 38.7 billion yen (US$356.0 million) in Japan as of Sunday. The film ranked at #7 in its 23rd weekend.
After 12 consecutive weeks at #1 in the box office in Japan, Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train dropped to #2 during the January 9-10 weekend, its 13th weekend. The film has ranked in the top three spots weekly in Japan since then, until its 22nd weekend.
The film has surpassed Hayao Miyazaki's 2002 Spirited Away, its last rival for all-time highest earnings in Japanese box office history. (Spirited Away earned 30.8 billion yen in its original run, but has since earned a total of 31.68 billion yen after last summer's revival screenings.) The film has also surpassed Spirited Away as the #1 highest-earning Japanese film of all time worldwide.
Sources: The Sankei News via Hachima Kikо̄, NHK News
