Earlier today, Funimation announced that their opening for Dragon Ball Super: Broly took the #1 spot on its opening day in North America. The film earned more than $7 million in ticket sales across 1,440 screens, with an average of $5,695 per screen.
The film eclipses Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’‘s debut sales of $1.7 million.
Funimation CEO Gen Fukunaga commented on the news, stating:
Both anime and mainstream audience response to ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ has been overwhelmingly positive. We anticipated a strong opening, but we’re thrilled that the box office exceeded even the high end of our estimate […] We’re thrilled to hear that countless fans have or plan to watch the film multiple times. Fans are at the core of our strategy for this film. From the theatrical campaign and fan engagement events to our theatrical footprint and IMAX / Cinemark XD opening day presentation, our goal has been to make ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ available to as many fans as possible through the widest array of touchpoints. This strategy has paid off.
Tatsuya Nagamine (HappinessCharge PreCure!, One Piece Film Z) directed the feature at Toei Animation. Series creator Akira Toriyama provided character designs and wrote the script for the movie.
Other confirmed staffers include:
- Animation Director: Naohiro Shintani
- Art Director: Kazuo Ogura
Toei describes the picture as:
The theme for this remarkable new film will be “Saiyan”, the strongest race in the universe. Since “Battle of the Gods”, Goku has undergone new forms from Super Saiyan God to Super Saiyan Blue to other evolved forms that have gone up against many invincible warriors from multiple universes. This new story will focus on the origin of the Saiyans’ strength and what it means to be Saiyan.
Broly
The project is the 20th Dragon Ball movie.
Dragon Ball is one of the most iconic manga and anime properties in the world. Akira Toriyama’s original manga first appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1984. To date, the series has spawned more than 40 collected manga volumes, as well as numerous spinoffs and anime adaptations.
To date, the Dragon Ball manga has sold more than 240 million volumes worldwide.
Dragon Ball Super is the latest entry into the franchise. The series began airing on July 5, 2015 on Fuji TV. The series is being helmed by Kimitoshi Chioka (episodes 1-32) and Morio Hatano (ep 33 – present) at Toei Animation, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Beet the Vandel Buster) providing character designs. The show is the first new Dragon Ball TV series to air since Dragon Ball GT in 1996.
Funimation describes the series as:
With Majin Buu defeated, Goku has taken a completely new role as a…radish farmer?! With Earth at peace, our heroes have settled into normal lives. But they can’t get too comfortable. Far away, a powerful God awakens to a prophecy revealing his demise at the hands of a formidable being. When his search for the Saiyan God brings him to Earth, can Goku and his friends take on their strongest foe yet?
Source: Funimation (Press Release)
Dragon Ball Super: Broly Breaks $7 Million In Revenues On First Day In North American Cinemas – Samantha Ferreira
