COMPUTER-ANIMATED martial arts film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the 21st in the Japanese franchise, seized control of the North American box office last weekend with an estimated take of US$20.1 million (RM90.16 million), industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported yesterday.

That impressive result for the film from Crunchyroll – which called it the best global opening ever for an anime movie – proved a bright spot in a tepid August, easily outshining the US$11.6 million take of another new release, Universal’s Beast. 

“This is another outstanding Crunchyroll anime opening,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. He said Crunchyroll, 95% owned by Sony, now “dominates the genre.”

Gross rated Beast, meantime, as having only a “fair opening” for the Friday-through-Sunday period – at least “for an action adventure film featuring a beast.”

The beast, in this case, is a huge rogue lion that pursues a recently widowed man (Idris Elba) and his daughters when they go on safari. Iceland’s Baltasar Kormakur directs.

Sony’s action-thriller Bullet Train, which topped the box office the last two weekends, slid to third at US$8 million. Brad Pitt plays a paid assassin on a train seemingly loaded with them.

In fourth was the still high-flying Top Gun: Maverick, which took in a substantial US$5.9 million in its 13th week out. The Tom Cruise vehicle has pulled in US$683 million domestically and US$703 million overseas. 

And in fifth, down three spots from last weekend, was Warner Bros.’s animation DC League of Super-Pets, at US$5.8 million. 

August is always slow at the box office, “but with no big releases during the last two weeks, business has dropped more than normal, to roughly -40% below August 2019,” Gross said, “and that’s how it will continue until October.”

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were:

Thor: Love and Thunder (US$4 million)

Nope (US$3.6 million)

Minions: The Rise of Gru (US$3.5 million)

Where the Crawdads Sing (US$3.2 million)

Bodies Bodies Bodies (US$2.4 million). – AFP, August 22, 2022.