T5W#367-Top 5 Reasons why Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Came in #1 at the US Box Office

It’s one of you things you hope might happen but you stopped expecting it a long time ago.  Well, at long last, Anime fans can rejoice knowing that one of their greatest franchises hit it really big this weekend at the US Box Office.  Ok so it’s not exactly MCU numbers but it doesn’t matter because DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO CAME IN #1 AT THE US BOX OFFICE THIS WEEKEND!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!  Ok so it’s not the first Anime to do that, it’s actually the third (Pokemon: The First Movie came in #1 when it was released in 1999 and Demon Slayer: Mugen Train jumped into the #1 spot in its second weekend after it debuted in second place behind the new Mortal Kombat).  But still, this is a major milestone for the Dragon Ball franchise and Anime feature films releases as a whole and today I’m gonna talk about why that is.  Sure this means pushing the Top 5 I wanted to talk about this week to next week and this means I’m doing 2 Dragon Ball themed Top 5s back to back but…screw it, I was so happy to see this news at the end of the weekend.  These are the Top 5 Reasons why Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Came in #1 at the US Box Office.

 
#5-The First New Dragon Ball since 2018

The last time we saw Goku and Company in any form was in 2018’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly.  It’s been four long years since then and we’re back in an age where we don’t have a new Dragon Ball TV Series gracing the airwaves either.  The announcement of a new Super movie quickly caught everyones eyes and ears and following delay after delay, the film released in Japan earlier this summer.  At this point in time, you can pretty much watch everything Dragon Ball everywhere from late night Toonami runs to streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu but there are definitely those who have exhausted those decades worth of content.  Fans have been acting for brand new Dragon Ball so of course this movie was gonna get a lot of attention and hype around it.  After all…
 

#4-It’s Dragon Ball

While Shonen Anime have seen a bit of a renaissance in the last few years with success stories like Demon Slayer, Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen and Spy X Family, some might forget that Dragon Ball is still one of the most recognizable Anime titles from around the world.  It’s dominance in pop culture and expansion beyond the TV Series to Movies and Video Games is astounding.  Part of this is thanks to Dragon Ball Z’s highly successful Toonami run in the late 90’s/early 2000’s and it’s still seeing airing on the action block, with reruns of Super and Dragon Ball Z Kai.  Honestly, whether Super Hero was good or bad, the movie still had a decent shot at making US Box Office bank based on the Dragon Ball name alone.  Everyone wants to watch an epic fight featuring Goku and the others and Super Hero did not disappoint.

 
#3-Tried Something a Bit Different

This is more of a personal reflection on Super Hero’s story itself.  While yes, Goku is the face of the franchise and one of the most popular Anime characters of all time, he’s hardly the only guy in Dragon Ball.  Over its decades of existence, Dragon Ball has introduced fans to hundreds of colorful fighters begging to get stories of their own but are sidelined in favor of Goku and Vegeta punching the big bad into submission.  Super Hero takes a chance of telling a story centered on Piccolo and Gohan, sometimes more the former than the latter.  This is a pretty fresh approach for a Dragon Ball movie, one only taken once or twice in the past with the Z movies.  The fact that a fan favorite like Piccolo gets a movie to himself to be the hero, that had to play a hand in getting butts in seats.

 
#2-Light Competition

This might be the biggest thing working in Super Hero’s favor.  When Jujutsu Kaisen 0 debuted back in the Spring, some were surprised it didn’t come in at #1 at the box office.  That said, clearly the studio that released it wasn’t thinking about The Batman being such a box office juggernaut and there was no way it wasn’t going to be #1 for at least 3 weeks, which it was, besting JJK0 in its opening weekend.  Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero came out at the tail end of the Summer Blockbuster Season when many of the previously released films had run their course or were starting to wind down.  There wasn’t a new MCU film or Top Gun to stand in its way, just Idris Elba’s new thriller, Beast, which came in second behind Dragon Ball Super.  Positioning is everything and even if the box office numbers rapidly decline, studios should look at this and be more mindful of when to release their wide released Anime films.

 
#1-A Growing Trend Growing Bigger

I’d stay this all started back in 2019 when Dragon Ball Super: Broly made its stateside debut.  On its first day, it came in #1 at the US Box Office but ended up ultimately coming in 3^rd or 4^th.  For an Anime to even break the US Top 5 was a huge accomplishment but it wasn’t just a matter of lightning striking once.  After becoming the biggest box office earner of 2020, Demon Slayer: The Movie-Mugen Train, arrived in 2021 and, as previously mentioned, came in #2 behind Mortal Kombat before jumoing over it to #1 the following weekend.  Lastly there’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0.  Yes it was overshadowed by The Batman but it still came in #2 in its opening weekend and had a very healthy run for several weeks.  Does this mean Anime is becoming more of a mainstream Box Office garuntee in the States?  No but it’s clear there is a demand for it and we are having to wait fewer and fewer months for theatrical releases to come over to the US.  Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero taking the top spot for the weekend is a huge accomplishment for the world of Anime and I think we’re about to see a few more doors open if the right properties get their own shot at US Box Office glory.