Japan One Missed Call returned 9.5× its production cost, earning $16.2M against a $1.7M budget — one of the highest-return Japan films in our catalog.
Synopsis
着信アリ
“Death cannot be put on hold…”
People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths, along with the exact date and time of their future death, listed on the message log. The plot thickens as the surviving characters pursue the answers to this mystery which could save their lives.
Audience Engagement
375 audience reviews — more than 92% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (92th percentile) outruns trending popularity (70th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 52m runtime, production spent $15K per minute on screen and earned $145K per minute back.
Other Titles From KADOKAWA
Horror + Mystery in Japan
60 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Horror and Mystery genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding One Missed Call itself).
The 2002–2004 Japan Window
In the crowded 2002-2004 Japan release window, One Missed Call sits at #195 of 263. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when One Missed Call premiered alongside 84 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 84 other Japan films in 2003.
The 1550th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on One Missed Call, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- phone call · 3
- murder hunt · 3
- remade · 3
- victim · 2
- clinic · 2
- series of murders · 2
- friends · 27
- spirit · 20
- restaurant · 17
- knife · 9
- mass murder · 8
- death · 43
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,565 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (22nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.7 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Horror productions specifically: #154 of 391 (top 39%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Spoken Languages | English, Japanese |
| Production Companies | KADOKAWA, TOHO |
| Runtime | 1h 52m |
| Release Date | November 3, 2003 |
| IMDb | tt0366292 |