‘Godzilla,’ Record Anime Boom and a Global Co-Production Hunt: Takeaways From the Tokyo Film Festival and Market

The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival wrapped this week, a few days after its content market TIFFCOM, with Japan’s government talking up a JPY20 trillion ($126.6 billion) content export target, and the anime industry arriving with numbers to back it up. The festival ran Oct. 26–Nov. 4, with TIFFCOM held Oct. 28–30 at the Tokyo […] Japan’s anime market hit $28.2 billion and 'Godzilla Minus Zero' charmed as producers at the Tokyo hunted for co-production partners worldwide. The 39th Tokyo International Film Festival wrapped this week, a few days after its content market TIFFCOM, with Japan’s government talking up a JPY20 trillion ($126.6 billion) content export target, and the anime industry arriving with numbers to back it up.

The festival ran Oct. 26–Nov. 4, with TIFFCOM held Oct. 28–30 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center in Hamamatsucho. Across both, the talk kept returning to who owns Japanese IP, who pays to develop it and how far producers will travel to find partners. Here are the key takeaways. The hardest number of the week came from the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA). Spending on Japanese anime worldwide reached a record JPY4.45 trillion ($28.2 billion) in 2025, up 15.8% on the year, according to preliminary figures presented at