Anime at one time was a risk, especially in the West. Many attempts were made to try and bring anime to places beyond Japan but it just didn’t work or didn’t work very well. Then, Dragon Ball came to the West in the 90s and everything changed. Anime received a new level of respect and was part of many cartoon lineups, but it wasn’t until certain other anime series came out in the last decade or so that the true explosion of content reached across the world. Now, seeing anime movies in theaters worldwide isn’t a niche thing, it’s an event, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has proven this once again.
The latest in the Dragon Ball saga has been doing incredibly well at the worldwide box office. It reached No.1 in the US with over $20 million in its first three days there. Fast forward to right now and the movie has crossed over $50 million in the global arena. Given the big push that Crunchyroll gave to make sure that the movie was in over 4000 theaters in the US, this is proof that their risk was well worth it, and likely will be worth it again when the second weekend of numbers rolls up.
Now, since people love to compare things, it is true that the movie has a ways to go to defeat the previous film in the franchise, as that one grossed $115 million overall. But if things stay steady and strong? It could get close, if not beat it. Frankly, though, it getting anywhere close to or beyond $100 million would be great enough as that shows how much value these anime movies have.
Other franchises have been going for big blockbuster movies and have done well themselves, including the Demon Slayer Mugen Train film getting over $450 million at the box office and literally blowing everyone’s minds as a result of that.
The success of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero might encourage other attempts at planning movie premieres for some of the other grand animes out there. Imagine if this had happened before the end of Attack on Titan was announced? It likely would’ve done very well.
As for Dragon Ball as a whole, its future is still up in the air. The manga is about to go on hiatus for a bit, and the anime’s future is uncertain as it’s only been movies coming out over the last few years. But with this success, there is plenty of reason to keep it going.
Source: Twitter
