Wildlife thriller Beast couldn't sink its teeth into Dragon Ball Super at the box office
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Anime hit Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero tamed the Idris Elba wildlife thriller Beast this weekend, debuting at the top of the domestic and global box office.
The film adaptation of the popular Japanese manga opened with a super-powered $20.1 million at the domestic box office and a formidable $32 million overall worldwide, according to Comscore. That North American total more than doubles the opening of its predecessor Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which opened to $9.8 million in 2018.
Tetsurô Kodama directs the latest film — the widest-ever opening for an anime — from the Dragon Ball franchise with a script from the manga's original creator Akira Toriyama, which chronicles the return of the Red Ribbon Army from Goku's (voiced by Masako Nozawa) past, who return with two new androids to challenge the Saiyan and his friends.
Crunchyroll The new android 'superhero' characters of 'Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero'
"This movie really asks some questions about, what is a superhero? What defines a superhero, and how can superheroes sometimes be misguided?" Longtime Dragon Ball English-language voice actor Chris Sabat, who reprises his roles as Piccolo and Vegeta in the film, told EW at San Diego Comic-Con. "There's a big theme about what it means when a superhero isn't necessarily given the right information."
"All the fans of Dragon Ball, not only in Japan but worldwide, are the source of this imagination," producer Norihiro Hayashida added. "That's why Mr. Toriyama continues working on this. The power given by the audience is the motivation for the creator to continue working on Dragon Ball."
Lauren Mulligan / Universal Pictures Idris Elba in 'Beast'
Beast, the Elba-starring thriller centered on a father and his two teenage daughters (Leah Sava Jeffries, Iyana Halley) as they find themselves hunted by a rogue lion on a South African reserve, opened in second place, earning $11.5 million at the domestic box office. Bullet Train, last week's No. 1, rode the rails to No. 3 with an additional $8 million this weekend.
Top Gun: Maverick, which recently sunk Titanic's record as the seventh-highest-grossing film at the domestic box office, continued to soar across theaters in fourth place, earning an additional $5.8 million and bringing the domestic total to $683 million. DC League of Super Pets rounded out the top five, earning an additional $5.7 million.
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