411 Box Office Report: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Soars To #1

Crunchyroll took advantage of the slow month of August to score a top placement for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero this weekend. The latest entry in the popular shonen anime franchise vastly overperformed with a $20.1 million start, leaping way above the low-to-mid teens start that was expected. The domestic opening is the best for the franchise with ease, more than doubling the $9.8 million start for Dragon Ball Super: Broly in January of 2019. It’s also the best opening for an anime film since Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train opened to $22.8 million in April of last year.

In fairness, Super Hero was set up to deliver above and beyond the genre’s usual numbers. For one, the film had a massive release (for anime) with 3,018 theaters. For comparison, Mugen Train opened in 1,605 theaters and Super Broly started in 1,247 theaters. That wide release was made possible by the August doldrums of the box office, creating an opening for the film to provide an option at cineplexes it otherwise wouldn’t have had.

But Crunchyroll is also getting savvier in its marketing, relying on social media and pushing a heavier campaign that previous efforts have had. It also helps that Super Hero is near-universally loved at a 92% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% RT audience score. CinemaScore turns its nose up at anime, but the metrics we have speak for themselves.

The question here is how much the film will earn in successive weeks. Anime tends to be front-loaded; Demon Slayer The Movie had just a 2.19 multiple of its opening weekend, for example. But that was a weird time during the pandemic, and Super Hero seems likely to bring in at least $50 million by the end of its domestic run unless it proves to be more frontloaded than expected. It’s added $25.1 million overseas for a $45.2 million total, and this is obviously a hit for the studio.

Beast also opened pretty healthily, bringing in $11.6 million in its opening frame. The Idris Elba-starring action thriller was slightly above $10 million projections, repping a solid performance for the Universal Pictures release. This was an example of a studio finding a dead zone and plugging in a genre film with a recognizable star.

It helps that the film is going over pretty decently, sitting at a perfectly-acceptable 69% on RT with a 75% RT audience score and a B CinemaScore. Those are not fantastic, but they suggest what will likely be pretty standard legs. The film has added $10.3 million overseas for a $21.9 million worldwide start and should be about breakeven ultimately against a $36 million budget. The domestic total is likely to close out around $30 million.

Bullet Train held on okay in its third weekend, down 40% to $8 million. The Brad Pitt-starring is still trying to claw its way to a profit but has a bit of a road ahead if that’s to happen. Thus far, it has $69 million domestically and $150 million worldwide against its $80 million budget. It should close out at around $80 million in the US and will probably at least break even.

Top Gun: Maverick continued its run with $5.9 million, down just 17% in its 13th weekend. The legacy sequel has now surpassed Avengers: Infinity War for the #6 domestic all-time gross, having brought in $683.4 million in the US and $1.403 billion worldwide. Next up is the $700 mark, which will put it at #5 ahead of Black Panther and seems very doable. The budget was $170 million.

DC League of Super-Pets also held on well, down 17% in its fourth weekend to $5.8 million. The DC animated film is showing some much-needed strength, bringing its tallies to $67.5 million domestically and $130.4 million worldwide. The movie still has a good ways to go until it finds itself out of the red due to the $90 million budget, but it should be able to continue its way to $80 million domestically and overseas numbers may bring it at least close to a profit.

Thor: Love & Thunder was off 25% in its seventh weekend with $4 million. The MCU film is now at $332.1 million domestically and $737.1 million worldwide against a $250 million budget. At this point the only difference between this film’s worldwide gross and Thor Ragnarok’s number is that the latter had a China release, so Marvel has to be happy with this one.

Jordan Peele’s Nope brought in $3.5 million, a fifth weekend drop of 34%. The sci-fi horror film is now up to $113.8 million domestically and $133 million worldwide, with the overseas rollout still expanding. The film cost $68 million to produce and should be a hit for Universal with a final stateside total around $120 million.

Minions: Rise of Gru was down 30% from last weekend, bringing in $3.5 million in its eighth weekend. The spinoff sequel is up to $350 million domestically and $833.6 million worldwide. It is still looking likely to hit $360 million domestically and is a smash for Universal Pictures against an $80 million budget.

The good numbers continued to roll in for Where the Crawdads Sing, which was down a mere 30% in its sixth weekend to $3.1 million. The drama is now up to $77.7 million domestically and $97.7 million worldwide, a huge hit for Sony Pictures against a budget of just $24 million. It should be able to make it to $82 million or so by the end of its US run.

A24’s darkly comedic mystery Bodies Bodies Bodies had a solid second weekend of wide release as it expanded in theaters and was down just 23% to $2.4 million. The ensemble film is now at $7.4 million, which is a pretty solid spot for an A24 film. There’s no word on the movie’s budget but at this point $12 million seems to be the low end of its final stateside total and it will be profitable by the time it hits PVOD.

Next weekend sees the arrival of the Dracula-inspired horror flick The Invitation, which is targeting $10 million and should be in contention for the box office crown. Disney will be re-releasing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in IMAX and it may have a shot at the low end of the top 10, while UA and MGM’s dark fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing should be in the mid-single digits unless it seriously over-indexes

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – $20.1 million ($20.1 million total, $45.2 million WW)
2. Beast – $11.6 million ($11.6 million total, $21.9 million WW)
3. Bullet Train – $8 million ($69 million total, $150 million WW)
4. Top Gun: Maverick – $5.9 million ($683.4 million total, $1.403 billion WW)
5. DC League of Super-Pets – $5.8 million ($67.5 million total, $130.4 million WW)
6. Thor: Love & Thunder – $4 million ($332.4 million total, $737.1 million WW)
7. Nope – $3.5 million ($113.8 million total, $133 million WW)
8. Minions: The Rise of Gru – $3.5 million ($350 million total, $833.6 million WW)
9. Where the Crawdads Sing – $3.1 million ($77.7 million total, $97.7 million WW)
10. Bodies Bodies Bodies – $2.4 million ($7.4 million total, $7.4 million WW)