Toei Animation fiscal report suggests new One Piece movie on the way

Monday, December 16, 2024 saw Toei Animation’s latest fiscal report reveal information on upcoming projects, which suggest a new One Piece movie could be in the works. While the section of the fiscal report that suggests this doesn’t mention the series by name, it does reference “large IP projects” in the context of existing IPs with overseas viability. Few franchises fit this bill better than that of mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s original series of the same name.

The fiscal report names two movies in this category which are slated for release by the end of the 2026 fiscal year. Certainly, few series would fit this bill more than Oda’s original series. Likewise, the latest One Piece movie in Film: RED proved incredibly successful overseas, and was a critical and financial success for Toei Animation.

Toei Animation’s FY2025 Q2 report teases a new One Piece movie coming sometime in FY2026

The information suggesting a new One Piece movie could be on the way specifically comes from the “Title Portfolio” section of Toei Animation’s FY2025 Q2 report. Here, unnamed upcoming and recent titles are split into four major groups. Categorization depends on whether or not these are new or existing intellectual properties (IPs) for either the Japanese or overseas markets, resulting in four total groups.

The group of existing IPs for overseas markets is where this suggestion comes from. As mentioned above, this group specifies that it deals with “large IP projects,” with 13 television and film titles total falling into the group for a total budget of 17 billion yen (about US$110.26 million). These 13 titles are then broken down by fiscal year of release and type. For example, four of the 13 titles are television series which aired during FY2024.

It’s also noteworthy that this section of the breakdown has no film titles until FY2026 onwards, of which two are indexed. Coincidentally, this would also mark a roughly three-year gap from the release of the latest One Piece movie, which is near the typical gap the franchise has used between films in the past. Combined with the above budget and descriptory information on these projects, it seems more likely than not that a new movie for Oda’s franchise is coming.

However, this is still speculative as of this article’s writing, with nothing in Toei Animation’s latest fiscal report specifically suggesting a new film for Oda’s franchise is on the way. Rather, this seems to be the most likely conclusion based on the context clues provided by nature of the report’s contents.

Oda’s original manga series began in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in July 1997, where it is still ongoing today with regular serialization. Oda’s manga was adapted into a television anime series by Toei Animation in October 1999. This adaptation is still ongoing, but currently on break until April 2025 to allow for significant changes to its production.