Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Takes Shot At Pokemon’s Biggest Box Office Record

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero might not have been able to overtake the previous films in the series when it comes to the box office for Japanese theaters, but it seems that the film is making a splash in the West. Releasing earlier this week, the latest film of the Shonen franchise has come within striking distance of Pokemon: The First Movie for its first days, going to show just how big the Return of the Red Ribbon Army is. 

The opening night for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was around $4 million USD, with the subsequent day netting around $6 million USD, coming within range of Pokemon’s opening day total of a little bit over $10 million for around the same amount of time. This is saying something considering how big the story of Ash and Pikachu was when the first movie of the franchise was released, and how their fight against Mewtwo was able to resonate amongst Western audiences when anime films hitting theaters was a very uncommon occurrence in North America. Now, with anime continuing to gain popularity around the world, movies that arrive theatrically from the likes of Dragon Ball, One Piece, Demon Slayer, and more will often receive theatrical runs.

The latest Pokemon movie however didn’t receive a theatrical run of its own, with Pokemon: Secrets of the Jungle, introducing a new legendary pocket monster but not getting the opportunity to hit theaters in North America. Another major Pokemon movie that didn’t hit theaters in the West was the re-creation of the first movie, Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution, which arrived on Netflix like a number of different films and episodes from the anime series.

Pokemon’s first movie gained a little over $85.7 million USD in North America, though the current movie featuring the Z-Fighters taking on Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 would have to cover some serious ground to come close to that tally, as the current predictions for the box office of Super Hero’s opening weekend are around $21 million USD.

Do you think that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will be able to come close to the overall tally of Pokemon’s First Movie in North America? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the worlds of Dragon Ball and Pokemon