“Black Adam” is still atop the hierarchy of power at the box office. The Warner Bros. release looks to claim the top spot on domestic charts again in its third weekend, staying ahead of new release “One Piece Film: Red.”
The DC film earned an additional $4.7 million on Friday, down 37% from its numbers one week ago. “Black Adam,” which hasn’t faced much major competition since its release in October, is expected to put up a healthy hold, expanding its domestic gross beyond $120 million. It’ll be the Dwayne Johnson film’s last round ruling the box office, with Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” set to land a massive opening next weekend.
While Crunchyroll’s “One Piece Film: Red” likely won’t draw enough viewers to dethrone “Black Adam,” the anime musical looks to land in second on domestic charts. The film earned roughly $4.8 million from 2,367 locations across Friday and Thursday preview screenings. “Red” also benefits from the increased ticket prices that come with playing in many of the nation’s premium format auditoriums, such as Imax and Dolby Cinemas.
Industry estimates had forecast an opening in the upper single-digit millions for “One Piece Film: Red,” though the film’s debut now has the potential to push past $10 million. That would be another commendable box office performance for an anime film this year, following the $21 million August debut of Crunchyroll’s “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” and the $18 million March opening of Funimation’s “Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie.”
Theatrical success remains an uncertainty for almost any film without a comic book hero these days, but anime has solidified itself as a relatively reliable theatrical performer in North America, with franchises that carry a devoted enough following to buoy solid — if often front-loaded — box office performances. Ticket buyers for “One Piece Film: Red” were very receptive, with the film earning an “A” grade through research firm Cinema Score.
As Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge points out in his review, the anime feature will prove difficult to understand for those new to the franchise, but is sure to please the faithful. “One Piece Film: Red” is the 15th feature film for one of the world’s most storied media franchises, which includes the original long-running manga series, as well as over 1,000 television episodes, numerous video games and even a trading card game. The feature is already the ninth-highest grossing release in the history of Japan’s box office.
More to come…
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