Anime Movies are Kicking Ass Internationally Right Now
Between Dragon Ball Super and One Piece, anime movies are making their mark on the movie-going market right now.
Between One Piece Red and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, there are multiple greatly anticipated anime movies in theaters right now. And unsurprisingly, they’re both doing pretty darn well.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero might have one of the silliest titles I’ve heard in a while, but it’s doing numbers in the North American box office right now. Since its August 18th premiere, the film has earned an estimated $30,762,000, which beats out Dragon Ball Super: Broly‘s earnings at $30,712,119.
This also puts the latest Dragon Ball movie in the top five highest-grossing anime films ever seen at the US box office. It joins the ranks of anime movies such as Jujutu Kaisen 0, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Pokemon 2000, and Pokemon: The First Movie. While I’m not surprised about any of these movies, I am a little surprised that Spirited Away isn’t on this list.
But is Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero worth the hype or the effort of saying the entire title at a theater employee? Honestly, yeah. I personally thought that minute-for-minute it was funnier and more enjoyable than Dragon Ball Super: Broly with an animation style that I thought I would hate but ended up loving.
You may recall that the Dragon Ball Super movie saw a delay earlier this year when Toei Animation was targeted by a hacker. Originally slated for an April release, the movie was pushed back quite a few months as Toei regrouped. Many shows and even the online gift shop were temporarily suspended or closed. But it seems their security issues have been resolved and all of their upcoming projects are back on track.
One Piece Red
One Piece Red has officially earned over ten billion yen or about $73 million U.S. With only twenty days in theaters, this is the fastest movie to reach this milestone in Japan this year and the #41st film at the Japanese box office of all time.
In its first weekend, the movie sold 1.58 million tickets and earned 2.254 billion yen, handily beating the earnings of the previous One Piece movie, One Piece Stampede. But with the main story quickly coming to a close, it’s no surprise that fans are eager to see more One Piece content.
Crunchyroll will be theatrically releasing One Piece Red for audiences in North America, Australia, and New Zealand, but there is no word on when we can expect to see the movie for ourselves. Some things are simulcast while others leave us waiting for months at a time, so it’s anybody’s guess when we can expect the Straw Hat Pirates to sail over to our markets.
What is your favorite anime movie of all time? Have you seen either of these films and if so what did you think? When do you think you’ll be able to watch One Piece Red where you are? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
