The anime genre is about to take the US summer box office by storm.
Tuesday, Sony’s Crunchyroll and Toei Animation announced the upcoming release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the newest installment in the popular anime franchise. The film is slated to be out in North America on August 19 in over 2,300 venues, including select Imax theaters. Super Hero, Crunchyroll’s first genuinely worldwide theatrical release, will also be released in foreign countries in August and September, in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
After decades of ebbs and flows in popularity around the world, Japanese animation has finally broken through into the mainstream in recent years, becoming a powerfully bankable genre in both theaters and on streaming platforms.
The preceding installment in the Dragon Ball Super franchise in 2018, titled Dragon Ball Super: Broly, costs just $8.5 million to produce, yet grossed $30 million in North America and over $120 million globally. Other anime hits have put up big performances despite the obstacles of the box office in the pandemic era; the most successful being Aniplex’s Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, a period fantasy anime that racked up $48 million in North America, $365 million in Japan, and $504 million globally.
The film is being made available in both subtitled and dubbed versions in the local language.
