If you’ve been paying attention to how Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has been doing at the box office, you wouldn’t be alone on that front. Many people were VERY curious as to how the film was going to do in the West as well as in Japan when it released in the latter in June. The opening was strong, but divisive in certain aspects. Conversely, when it opened up in the West, it all but exploded in terms of the people who came to watch it. Partially due no doubt to how the film was put in over 4000 theaters in the US alone.
As a result of its success in the west, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has already amassed over $45 million dollars in its global gross. A very impressive number for an anime movie right out of the gate. It also should be noted that in just the US, the film is only $10 million away from what the previous Dragon Ball Super film in Broly did in its entire run. So it’s very likely that the movie will surpass that and set a new milestone for the franchise in the West.
So by all accounts, the movie is doing incredibly well now that it’s in a worldwide release, and as a result of that, many are curious as to what is next. But, they’re also curious about how we’ve come to this position.
Because as noted, in Japan, the movie did fair, but not as well as the previous three movies. Including having a massive drop week to week which didn’t help its overall totals compared to the three films that came before it. You’d think this wouldn’t be the case as Japan is the “home of anime” and they have been enjoying Dragon Ball for literal decades, and they clearly came out for the other movies, so why not this one?
There are many options for answers here, including the continuing pandemic situation in Japan, a leak of the movie online, the focus on Gohan over Goku and Vegeta, or even just the fact that the movie is in 3D versus the traditional 2D format.
But even with that, no matter what the truth is, the fact that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero did so well in the West, and will likely continue to do well in the West shows that the love for this franchise has not died. Which the team behind the series would know just by how much fans are begging for a new anime to debut as soon as possible. Especially with the manga being so far ahead of where we are right now currently.
So keep your hopes alive!
Source: Twitter
