‘Dragon Ball’ roars to top of North American box office

Image: AFP/Charly Triballeau via Twitter

LOS ANGELES – Computer-animated martial arts film “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,” the 21st in the Japanese franchise, seized control of the North American box office this weekend with an estimated take of $20.1 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.

That impressive result for the film from Crunchyroll, which called it the best global opening ever for an anime movie, proved a bright spot in a tepid August, easily outshining the $11.6 million take of another new release, Universal’s “Beast.”

“This is another outstanding Crunchyroll anime opening,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. He said Crunchyroll, 95% owned by Sony, now “dominates the genre.”

Gross rated “Beast,” meantime, as having only a “fair opening” for the Friday-through-Sunday period, at least “for an action adventure film featuring a beast.”

The beast, in this case, is a huge rogue lion that pursues a recently widowed man (Idris Elba) and his daughters when they go on safari. Iceland’s Baltasar Kormakur directs.

Sony’s action-thriller “Bullet Train,” which topped the box office the last two weekends, slid to third at $8 million. Brad Pitt plays a paid assassin on a train seemingly loaded with them.

Christopher Sabat and Charles Martinet (L-R), who respectively play Piccolo and Magenta from the voice cast of “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero,” attend the after-party for the Los Angeles premiere on Aug. 10, 2022. Image: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America/AFP

In fourth was the still high-flying “Top Gun: Maverick,” which took in a substantial $5.9 million in its 13th week out. The Tom Cruise vehicle has pulled in $683 million domestically and $703 million overseas.

And in fifth, down three spots from last weekend, was Warner Bros.’s animation “DC League of Super-Pets,” at $5.8 million.

August is always slow at the box office, “but with no big releases during the last two weeks, business has dropped more than normal, to roughly -40% below August 2019,” Gross said, “and that’s how it will continue until October.”

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were:

“Thor: Love and Thunder” ($4 million)

“Nope” ($3.6 million)

“Minions: The Rise of Gru” ($3.5 million)

“Where the Crawdads Sing” ($3.2 million)

“Bodies Bodies Bodies” ($2.4 million)

JB

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