‘Dragon Ball Super’ Tames ‘Beast’ at Box Office
thewrap.comOver the past few years, Sony has found specialty success by releasing anime films from major franchises in the genre like “My Hero Academia” and “Demon Slayer,” and the release of this new “Dragon Ball Super” film is one of the first to be released after the studio merged its Funimation distribution wing into Crunchyroll, which is its anime streaming service.
In addition, the late August dry period for theaters is a partial reason why “Super Hero” has received a much wider screen count than the last “Dragon Ball” film to hit theaters, “Broly,” which opened to $9.8 million from just 1,238 theaters in 2018. “Super Hero” is just about $1 million shy of the best opening every for a Crunchyroll/Funimation release, with the studio record belonging to “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” with $22.7 million during the early days of COVID reopening in April 2021.
Universal’s “Beast” is in second with an estimated $10.1 million opening from 3,743 theaters, meeting pre-release projections.
Starring Idris Elba as a man who must protect his daughters from a savage lion, the film’s reception has been mildly positive with a B on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 68% critics and 75% positive, but “Beast” is unlikely to post much of a profit against its $36 million budget.
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