One Piece movies are produced and then released by Toei Animation in theaters. The movies have the same cast and characters from the storyline (anime) but usually, have bigger production values and better animation quality.
Initially, all the movies were released yearly in Toei’s spring ‘Anime Fair’ alongside Digimon movies. After the release of the third One Piece Movie in 2002, Toei sacked the Spring Anime Fair and all individual movies were produced as standalone.
Most of the movies have an individualistic approach and standalone plot that follows the current arc, 8th and 9th movies are based on stories from manga directly.
Eiichiro Oda was not involved in the first 9 movies and just in anime shows but in the 10th movie, Oda wrote the story and was also an executive producer.
Oda Sensei was also involved in 12,13 and 15 movies and served as general producer for these films.
These movies were named ‘One Piece Films’ and along with these movies, there were some shorts that were also released.
Other than movies Toei Animation also worked on some movie-length episodes too.
Theatrical films
1. One Piece
| Directed by | Junji Shimizu |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Michiru Shimada |
| Narrated by | Mahito Ōba |
| Cinematography | Toshiharu Takei |
| Edited by | Shinichi Fukumitsu Kōichi Katagiri |
| Music by | Kōhei Tanaka |
| Release date | March 4, 2000 |
| Running time | 51 minutes |
2. Clockwork Island Adventure
| Directed by | Junji Shimizu |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Hiroshi Hashimoto |
| Cinematography | Takumi Wakao Takeshi Koyano |
| Edited by | Shinichi Fukumitsu |
| Music by | Kōhei Tanaka |
| Release date | March 3, 2001 |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
3. Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals
| Directed by | Junji Shimizu |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Hiroshi Hashimoto |
| Cinematography | Yumiko Kajiwara Satoru Nakae |
| Edited by | Shinichi Fukumitsu |
| Music by | Kōhei Tanaka |
| Release date | March 2, 2002 |
| Running time | 56 minutes |
4. Dead End Adventure
| Directed by | Konosuke Uda |
|---|---|
| Screenplay by | Yoshiyuki Suga |
| Cinematography | Takumi Wakao Yoshitada Ishii |
| Edited by | Shinichi Fukumitsu |
| Music by | Kōhei Tanaka Shirō Hamaguchi |
| Release date | March 1, 2003 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
Reception
| Film | Release | Box office gross revenue |
|---|---|---|
| One Piece | March 4, 2000 | ¥2,160,000,000 |
| Clockwork Island Adventure | March 3, 2001 | ¥3,000,000,000 |
| Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals | March 2, 2002 | ¥2,000,000,000 |
| Dead End Adventure | March 1, 2003 | ¥2,000,000,000 |
| The Cursed Holy Sword | March 6, 2004 | ¥1,800,000,000 |
| Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island | March 5, 2005 | ¥1,233,551,871 |
| Giant Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle | March 4, 2006 | ¥990,000,000 |
| The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta | March 3, 2007 | ¥990,000,000 |
| Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Sakura | March 1, 2008 | ¥920,000,000 |
| One Piece Film: Strong World | December 12, 2009 | ¥4,800,000,000 |
| One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase | March 19, 2011 | ¥790,000,000 |
| One Piece Film: Z | December 15, 2012 | ¥6,870,000,000 |
| Episode of Merry | August 28, 2014 | — |
| Episode of Nami | December 6, 2014 | — |
| Episode of Luffy | December 10, 2014 | — |
| One Piece Film: Gold | July 23, 2016 | ¥5,180,000,000 |
| One Piece: Stampede | August 9, 2019 | ¥5,550,000,000 |
| One Piece: Flim Red | August 9 2022 | ¥2,550,000,000 |
| Regional total | – | ¥43,813,000,000 |
Trivia
- Movie numbers 1,2,3 and 11 were released as double features and all of them are below 1 hour of runtime.
- The animation of movie 6 was experimental, the majority of the movie setup is from CGI, similar to Gunbound. Later it was used again in the 9th movie but only for a shorter extent and the character arts from that movie were used in episode number 388.
- Movie number 7 just like other movies, the scenes that were there in the feature scenes were missing from the movie. In scenes like Sanji battling raptor-macha, Zorro’s fight had longer screentime. Other movies like the 7th movie had the most notable cuts.
- Movies number 8th and 9th revolve around the plot and arc from the manga and anime. The episode of Arabesta- The Desert Princess and The Pirates was set on the Arabasta arc and The episode of Chopper Plus- Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura is set on the Drum Island Arc.
- Movie 4 and 5 were directly linked as the ending of the 4th movie was followed by the opening scene of the 5th movie.
- Till now movies number 8,10,12,13, and 14 are dubbed by Funimation, and 4kids dubbed no movies. Movies from 1 to 7 and 9 were released by Manga Entertainment in the UK in the English language.
- The first movie was made using cells, digital animation was adopted in later movies.
- Movies 1,2,3, and 4 were converted to 35mm film. Movie 5 was completely transferred to digital as a result it looks much clearer and sharper.
- The first One Piece movie that was animated in CGI was the 11the movie and it was also the first 3D movie. Movie 13 also had a 3D version.
