Japan’s independent cinemas ("mini-theaters" in the local parlance) are havens for fans of arthouse films, but many are facing precarious financial times. Factors like streaming services and the COVID-19 pandemic hit Japanese moviegoing hard: In 2024, the latest year on record, total admissions were still at less than 75% of pre-pandemic levels.

With massive hits like "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle," this year’s numbers will probably be better, but that’s little solace for mini-theaters, which specialize in smaller, independent films. In 2025, two long-running mini-theaters in Tokyo, Shinjuku’s Cinema Qualite and Ikebukuro’s Cinema Libre, announced they were closing their doors.

On the other hand, Tokyo has seen a few new mini-theaters open in the past few years, including K2 Cinema in Shimokitazawa and Stranger in Kikukawa, both in 2022. The newest addition to Tokyo’s independent cinema scene is CineMalice, which is set to open Dec. 19 in Jimbocho, the bookstore-laden enclave recently dubbed the world’s coolest neighborhood by Time Out.

CineMalice was founded by Ryoko Inada, a lifelong cinema fan who decided to make a foray into the mini-theater business after a career as a legal secretary.

"The pandemic inspired me to try something new," Inada says. "I noticed that many independent theaters were opening, and that made me realize I could do it, too."

The theater has two screens with 67 and 64 seats, respectively. Screen One will feature first-run films at standard cinema prices, while Screen Two will feature second-run and retrospective screenings on a subscription model. Customers can buy a monthly or yearly pass (¥2,500 per month or ¥22,000 per year) for all-you-can-watch access to Screen Two, which will feature about 50 films a year at a rate of two new films every two weeks. Those without a subscription can also purchase individual tickets to the films.

Inada says that the inspiration for the subscription model came from the yearly pass offered by Ginrei Hall in Iidabashi, a second-run cinema that shuttered in 2022 after nearly 50 years in operation when the building it occupied was slated for redevelopment.

"I used to see double features there, which often had one film I wanted to see and one I knew nothing about," says Inada. "Often, the latter was actually more interesting. If you always choose films you think you’ll like, your scope becomes limited, but if you see films chosen by someone else, your worldview expands. That’s the kind of service we want to provide."

CineMalice, a new independent theater in Jimbocho, has two screens. | COURTESY OF CINEMALICE

One screen at CineMalice is dedicated to showing second-run and retrospective screenings on a subscription model. | COURTESY OF CINEMALICE

Inada says the theater will play films across a variety of genres, including domestic and foreign, live-action and animation, with a special focus on films by and about women and minorities. The opening lineup includes "Barbarian Invasion," a Malaysian film directed by Tan Chui Mui, who also stars in the film as an actress trying to make her comeback after retiring to be a full-time mother; two films by Spanish director Victor Erice: the 1973 classic "The Spirit of the Beehive" and the recent "Close Your Eyes"; a retrospective on late Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung; "The First Year" and "The Battle of Chile," two documentaries by Patricio Guzman shot in the turbulent Chile of the 1970s; and "About Jun," a documentary about a one-man publishing company run from the Tokyo suburb of Kichijoji.

"(‘About Jun’) is a story about a small, independent publisher creating books diligently with love, so I thought it was the perfect fit for our theater," Inada says.

Inada’s quest to open a mini-theater started two years ago. Her first step was to consult with the owners of theaters like Stranger as well as Cinemarine in Yokohama, asking for advice about things like equipment, programming and operations.

"The most frequent piece of advice I received was ‘don’t do it,’" says Inada with a laugh. "It’s not an easy business, so you need a lot of resolve."

The next step was finding an appropriate piece of property in which to build a theater. Discovering a building with the right dimensions in Jimbocho "felt like fate," says Inada: "With all the bookstores, universities and musical instrument shops, it’s a very cultural area."

Inada also points out that Jimbocho has its own cinematic history: The pioneering arthouse theater Iwanami Hall operated there from 1968 to 2022, and it is currently home to Jimbocho Theater, which specializes in Japanese classics.

While Inada fell in love with the underground property she found in the neighborhood, there were some unexpected challenges in converting the space into a movie theater. Japan has strict regulations when it comes to the layout of cinemas, including wider stairs and more exits than are required for offices or restaurants, going back to the days when cinemas were gathering places for hundreds of people and posed significant fire hazards.

CineMalice was founded by Ryoko Inada, a film lover who wants audiences to take more chances to find their next favorite movie. | MATT SCHLEY

The renovation costs got a major boost via a crowdfunding campaign, which ran from June to August 2025 and collected ¥21 million from 1,479 backers. Inada credits CineMalice’s social media accounts, where she detailed each step in the process of founding a theater, with attracting backers to the project.

"People told us they’d been following our progress from the beginning, and were excited to be able to help out," she says.

Inada says she hopes to make the theater accessible with screenings featuring English subtitles, as well as Japanese subtitles on Japanese-language films for the hearing impaired and viewers who are learning the language.

"Some people find subtitles distracting, but I want a wide range of people to be able to enjoy films here," says Inada.

While Tokyo’s newest theater operator is clear-eyed about the challenges ahead, such as providing the kind of programming that will tempt moviegoers to purchase subscriptions and attracting members of Generation Z who attend the universities nearby (under-25 and under-18 discounts are available), Inada wonders if a new age of mini-theaters has arrived. In addition to CineMalice, other indie theaters that have popped up in Japan this year include Theater Aimyou in Osaka, which opened last month, and Yet Cinema Club in Fukuoka, which is slated to open early next year.

"There’s no guarantee we’ll succeed, but I don’t want movie theaters to disappear," says Inada.

CineMalice in Tokyo’s Jimbocho neighborhood opens its doors Dec. 19. For more information about the independent theater, visit cinemalice.theater (Japanese only).