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‘Dragon Ball Super Broly’ Sets Wednesday Aflame With $7M+ Opening
17
Jan
Jan
‘Dragon Ball Super Broly’ Sets Wednesday Aflame With $7M+ Opening
2nd Update, Thursday AM: Early AM industry estimates are in showing that Funimation’s Dragon Ball Super: Broly had a super opening day with $7.06M at 1,250 venues leading all films at the box office, and overtaking STXfilm/Lantern’s The Upside for the day ($1.69M) and the fourth Wednesday of Warner Bros. Aquaman ($1.2M).
Six-day projections are wild for the film, around $15M+, as folks expect the pic’s run to be significantly front-loaded over the MLK stretech; most of the fans came out yesterday where the anime film played in 180 PLF screens as well as 56 Imax hubs. Broly will shed those. Universal/BVI/Blumhouse’s Glass happens tonight at 7PM.
January isn’t always the typical month to launch animated pics, but Broly‘s Wednesday is 67% of DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 3‘s $10.5M opening Friday, which gives you some sense of the Funimation pic’s power. Kung Fu Panda was in play at 3,955 theaters. Broly‘s first day also beats the Friday openings of such January animated releases as The Nut Job ($4.8M), and live action family pics like A Dog’s Purpose ($5.2M) and Paddington ($4.6M). Bravo Broly.
1st Update, Wednesday PM: Funimation Films’ domestic release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly is rolling a super opening day with an estimated $5M-plus per industry sources at 1,260 theaters. Estimates peg the six-day at $11M-plus and say that given the fanboy nature of the film, business will be frontloaded. There’s also a chance that Broly comes in higher than what we’re seeing now with around $7M.
It’s an amazing first day result for January when you consider the fact that there are no K-12 schools off, and only 30% college. However, the Dragon Ball anime brand plays to several generations from kids to adults. Funimation’s theatrical launch today includes 180 digital PLF screens and 56 Imax hubs (the first anime title in the large format). Those venues are for one day only, but a regular theatrical release will continue in the weekends to come.
Broly bowed today in order to get a head start ahead of Universal/BVI/Blumhouse’s Glass which will dominate the weekend with at least $50M over four-days, possibly as high as $70M that is if Winter Storm Harper doesn’t freeze out theaters in the Northeast. That M. Night Shyamalan movie starts previews tomorrow night at 7PM nationwide.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly‘s opening day blows away the $1.8M opening weekend of Funimation’s Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ from 2015 at 913 theaters. That pic ended its stateside run at $8M and global at $61.7M. Fox International has overseas on Broly where it has amassed $57.6M from 17 territories.
The takeaway here for Broly is how Funimation is eventizing the movie much in the same way that Fathom and Warner Bros. did for Peter Jackson’s WWI doc They Shall Not Grow Old with $5.4M from two different days of shows in December. We hear that some theaters are playing Broly once a day, others two times, and some five times. Rivals see that showtime mix fueling Broly‘s stateside success. Prints are English dubbed.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the 20th film in the anime franchise. Pic is based on the original story, screenplay and character designs from creator Akira Toriyama. Broly is the first new storyline by Toriyama in more than 18 years. Pic follows Goku and Vegeta, who are Saiyans (aliens). They come into battle with Broly, a Saiyan warrior unlike any fighter they’ve faced before. Funimation Films is the theatrical division of Sony Picture Television’s Funimation.
