Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Crosses New Milestone at Global Box Office

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has crossed an important milestone at the global box office: the film has grossed $45.24 worldwide, after amassing a $20.1 million opening weekend in US markets over the three days of opening weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). For comparison, Dragon Ball Super: Broly earned $12.8M in its first three days of release (Wed-Fri), and $9.8M in its opening weekend ($11.94M over the four-day MLK holiday weekend). Broly ended up grossing $30.7M total at the domestic box office – Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is already two-thirds of the way to that mark, in just its opening weekend! 

The release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in Japan, back in June, has been something of a mixed affair. Super Hero opened lower than previous films Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Resurrection F, and Battle of Gods; it also saw a 55% drop-off in its second week, quickly losing the top spot at the box office. There’s been a lot of speculation about why Super Hero hasn’t done as well as other Dragon Ball movie releases in Japan, with the top speculation being the post-pandemic market, big choice to change the lead character focus, and the controversial introduction of CGI animation for the first time. The film was also leaked online, which may have had an effect.

That makes it even more interesting, then, that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has conversely opened so well in North America. It seems that the exact same factors that may have held Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero back in Japan could be making it a hit in America and other international markets. It will be interesting to see what the week-to-week drop-off will be; a Dragon Ball movie obviously comes with a front-loaded turnout of dedicated fans – then again, there’s little in the way of direct competition at the box office this week or the foreseeable future. 

On the character front, that makes sense: a lot of US viewers, in particular, got introduced to Dragon Ball through Dragon Ball Z, a series that very much put Gohan at its center. The Western fandom has also carried a torch for Gohan into the Dragon Ball Super era, and have been waiting for an event like this, as Super Hero definitely helps push both Gohan and Piccolo into a new era. It also probably helps that Dragpon Ball Super’s manga has set up an epic new arc that will bring Frieza back in a new powerful form. The franchise seems to be firing hot, which could help carry the film. 

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is now playing in theaters worldwide.