“Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” (Crunchyroll) overperformed expectations at 21 million while “Beast” (Universal) at 11.6 million arrived slightly above its anticipated results.
That’s modest good news after a week in which reports that Cineworld, the #2 exhibitor worldwide, is likely to invoke bankruptcy procedures (while theaters remain open).This mid-August weekend usually sees bigger openings.
In the five years between 2015-2019, six titles debuted above 21 million.
Last year, in a season of still-recovering grosses, “Free Guy” opened to 28 million.“Super Hero” in 3,007 theaters is by far the widest-ever domestic Japanese anime release.
The Toei Animation film fell a little short of “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” last year, which played at a little more than half as many theaters to open at 21.2 million.
That franchise for anime fans has greater appeal, as shown by its comparative performance in Japan.
“Mugen” grossed 292 million there, in a country with about a third of the U.
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