Dragon Ball Super: Super Herofinished the weekend atop the domestic box office, earning over $20 million over its three-day theatrical slate. Idris Elba’s newest cinematic survival adventure,Beast, looked to compete during a relatively slow August weekend but fell short of the coveted top spot.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the brand-newCrunchyrolloriginal film, follows the emblematic Piccolo and his former student Gohan as they embark on an intense mission to save the world from androids Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 of the reformed Red Ribbon Army. As reported byDeadline, the film performed very well despite the lack of ongoing marketing campaigns, which Universal’sBeastutilized on various platforms to promote its film. The immersive outing says a lot about the committed fan base of the popular anime.
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Dragon Ball Super: Super Heropremiered this past Friday and took home $10.88 million to conclude the night. Saturday’s performance was not as impressive, but the anime film generated roughly $5.8 million. Sunday proved to be another slow day, butthe Crunchyroll original filmearned approximately $3.45 million to bring its overall total to a solid $20.1 million. The anime was shown on fewer screens than Universal’sBeastbut earned twice as much as the Elba survival thriller.
Universal’sBeastofficially arrivedthis past Friday and generated a less than impressive $4.3 million to wrap up its opening night. The new film, which stars Elba alongside Sharlto Copley, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Iyana Halley, tells the gripping story of a father and his teenage daughters, who are hunted by a ferocious rouge lion. Unfortunately, Saturday and Sunday were equally slow performing days for the Universal film, ultimately bringing its weekend total to a dismal $11.57 million.
While slow despite the release of two new films, the theatrical weekend allowed audiences to experience or revisit projects that have been playing in theaters. Sony’sBullet Trainfinished the weekend in third place, generating $8 million, followed byTop Gun: Maverick, which accumulated roughly $5.85 million. Theweekend total forTop Gun: Maverickwas enough to push it pastAvengers: Infinity Waras the sixth highest-grossing film ever domestically.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Herowas projected to perform well, but the way in which it outpaced the Elba-led thriller was a surprise most did not expect. Movie theaters will look to continue to run relatively slow to conclude the month theatrically, with few high-profile projects being released to galvanize audiences. This weekend audiences will be able to experienceThe InvitationandThree Thousand Years of Longing, which stars Elba and Tilda Swinton.
