‘Dragon Ball Super’ Tops Box Office With $20 Million Weekend

Crunchy Roll’s domestic debut for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero topped the weekend box office with a $20.1 million debut Fri-Sun frame. That’s a harsh 1.87x weekend multiplier and a brutal 19.9% Thursday-to-weekend split. These are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II-level weekend legs. Granted, be it Crunchy Roll or Funimation, the folks who release these anime properties into domestic theaters aren’t expecting James Cameron-level legs. It is the widest anime release ever, with the most significant (IMAX, Dolby, etc.) PLF footprint.

It grossed 16.9% of its weekend figure in IMAX alone. This is the first time an anime flick has opened atop the domestic weekend box office since Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back opened with $31 million over the Fri-Sun part of a $50.7 million Wed-Sun debut in November of 1999. Demon Slayer The Movie topped its first Friday, but Mortal Kombat barely won the weekend $23 million to $21 million. Dragon Ball Super: Broly topped on Wednesday/Thursday of its opening weekend in January 2019 before placing fourth over the weekend against M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass.

Demon Slayer topped the box office in its second weekend amid a pre-summer 2021 Fri-Sun frame, and honestly, the pickings are so slim next weekend (all due respect to Three Thousand Years of Longing) that it may happen again. This newest Dragon Ball flick is another example of comparatively niche releases like Christmas with the Chosen, RRR, Demon Slayer and BTS Permission to Dance on Stage. They play to relatively small but unquestionably committed audiences who damn well show up while conventional theatrical releases struggle. It’ll be lucky to top $40 million overall, but that’s money theaters desperately need right now.

In a more conventional theatrical slate, a modest, star-driven, high-concept programmer like Beast would be welcome counterprogramming and a prototypical August flick. The $36 million survival actioner earned $11.57 million (a decent 2.69x multiplier) over its debut weekend. The film, which has earned $21 million global, delivers on its ‘Idris Elba fights a lion to protect his daughters’ marketing promises. It’s opening well for a modern Idris Elba vehicle. Elba is one of those respected thespians who gets fan-casted for every significant franchise (often from folks who can’t name more than a few Black actors) but isn’t much of an opener outside of an ensemble flick like Takers, Obsessed and Hobbs & Shaw.

No Good Deed, co-starring Taraji P. Henson, opened in 2014 with $24 million. However, Henson’s solo rom-com What Men Want opened with $18 million in early 2019 sans a major male co-star. Talent and charisma notwithstanding, not every great actor is a box office draw. The Will Packer production comes courtesy of Universal, and they (along with Focus) are the one studio, by default, that is doing their part to help theaters survive into November. I wish they’d move Ticket to Paradise from October 21 to late August or mid-September.

Nonetheless, they are offering Bros, Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul, Beast and the above-noted George Clooney/Julia Roberts rom-com over the next two months. I’m puzzled by Beast’s B Cinemascore grade since it’s precisely what’s on the poster and ends on a high note, but I digress. I’d expect halfway decent legs before becoming a popular PVOD title. Elba’s other summer entry, George Miller’s delightful and charming Three Thousand Years of Longing, co-starring Tilda Swinton, opens next week. It’s another chance for you fancasters to put up or shut up. I’m guessing they’ll stay home and fantasize about Elba playing 007.

Despite primarily being advertised as a Paramount+ original, Paramount opened Orphan: First Kill in 498 theaters over the weekend. It’s a surprisingly good horror prequel, starring now-25-years old Isabelle Fuhrman as a younger version of the title character she played in 2009 when she was 12. It finds a clever way to offer something new and deal with the whole “Okay, we saw the first film and know the big twist, now what?” problem that can plague franchise extensions for high-concept hits.

The film earned a $1.675 million opening weekend. The theatrical release is arguably about building awareness for its current PVOD release and its eventual VOD/DVD afterlife. Chris Pine’s The Contractor was mostly a VOD title but was among the few such offerings to stick around in the various VOD charts alongside the theatrical biggies. Orphan: First Kill is currently tenth on Vudu and seventh on YouTube.