🔖 3 min read

Yesterday, Mitchel Berger, Senior Vice President, Global Commerce, Crunchyroll, joined Nancy Tartaglione, International Box Office Editor, Senior Contributor, Deadline, for a special conversation at the Plage des Palmes (as part of the Marche du Film at the Cannes International Film Festival).

A man talking about his topic to the audience and the host

©David Guige -DGPRODS

During the Animation Day x Streamers Forum | From Streaming to the Big Screen – How Anime Is Driving Cinema | Presented by Crunchyroll [⁠Keynote], Berger talked about the global phenomenon of anime, why the medium resonates with younger audiences, and its impact on pop culture.

A man and a woman talking about a topic in front of the audience

©David Guige -DGPRODS

During the conversation, Berger stated:

  • “A lot of folks look at anime as a genre, and it’s not. It’s a medium. It’s a way of telling stories. There’s anything you want within it… And, anime is a fandom built around the community and the belonging it brings — not a single IP. That passion and sense of identity is what makes it truly special.”
  • “Our partners in Japan, our licensors, are creating amazing content over and over again. And, we’re growing the fan base, and then you have shows like Demon Slayer or Solo Leveling, which are incredibly high quality and really resonate with the fan base. It feeds the existing fan base, but also brings new fans in. And as the market grows, we create even more content. So it’s this wonderful virtuous circle of content: creating fans, fans creating other fans, and that fandom creating content. And we love that, and that’s what’s driven the growth over the last few years.”
  • “We look at this fandom as a lifestyle. Whether it’s streaming, theatrical, games, merchandise, or events — we want to be where the fans are.”
  • “There’s no gatekeeping in anime. The community wants to bring people in, to share the love — and that spirit of inclusion is core to what makes this fandom thrive.”
  • “In the United States, 42% of Gen Z and Alpha watch anime every week — that’s a higher percentage than those who watch the NFL… It was eye-opening for me to see how much anime resonates with younger audiences — how integral it is to their identity and who they are…. We’re also now seeing parents who grew up with Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon sharing anime with their kids. It’s becoming generational.”
  • “A show like Demon Slayer feeds the existing fan base, brings in new fans, and drives the creation of more content. It’s a virtuous circle. It was a cultural validation moment — when fans saw Demon Slayer break box office records, it confirmed that anime belonged on the global stage.”
  • “Infinity Castle will launch in Japan in July, with most of the world rolling out around September 12 — give or take a week — in partnership with Sony Pictures. Being part of the Sony family has accelerated our ability to grow and reach fans. Our work with Sony Pictures and Aniplex on projects like Infinity Castle has been game-changing.”
  • “We see huge potential in India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Anime resonates globally — and it’s only just beginning to scale.”

Crunchyroll is fueling fans’ love of anime with the ambition to make the medium an even bigger part of pop culture. Offering fans the ultimate anime experience, Crunchyroll provides a destination centered around a premium streaming service with over 15 million subscribers and the world’s largest dedicated library of anime subbed and dubbed, paired with a variety of ways to get immersed in the worlds of anime, including a global approach to film distributed and marketed by Crunchyroll.

Outside of Asia, Crunchyroll has released ten of the top anime films and has been behind 10 of the Top 20 best-performing anime films in U.S. box office history, including Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, Suzume, JUJUTSU KAISEN 0, Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO, One Piece Film: Red, and more. Not only have Crunchyroll films seen box office success, but have also been recognized with numerous awards and accolades and been accepted and screened at international film festivals around the globe.

Later this year, Crunchyroll will release Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, the first film in an epic trilogy that represents the final battle of the hugely popular award-winning anime shonen series, coming exclusively to cinemas in Japan on 18th July and globally starting in August.

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