News
Live-Action Dragonball Opens at #1 in 5 Asian Markets (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
The Hollywood Reporter newspaper reports that the live-action Dragonball: Evolution film opened as the #1 movie in five of the eight Asian markets in which it opened this past weekend. James Wong and 20th Century Fox's adaptation of Akira Toriyama's fighting manga made US$10.106 million on 2,118 screens to rank as the #4 film outside North America for the weekend. (According to Box Office Mojo, two of the three higher grossing films, Marley and Me and Gran Torino, opened in 34 and 27 markets, respectively.)
It was the top-grossing film in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. According to the Screen International magazine's website, the US$3.4 million box office take in 855 theaters in China was FOX's fourth highest opening weekend in that market. It also delivered FOX's third highest opening weekend in Malaysia with US$731,441 on 110 screens.
The Hollywood Reporter says that the film opened at #2 in Japan with US$3.3 million on 540 screens, but Kogyo Tsushinsha reports the film was #3 in Japan, below the live-action Yatterman film and the Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi (Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's How Space Was Won, New Edition) anime. Similarly, Screen International reports that it opened at #2 in South Korea with US$1.2 million on 280 screens, but The Korea Times newspaper reports it was #1. The movie opened in South Korea on March 12, two days before the actual start of the weekend. It will open in the United Kingdom on April 3 and then open in the United States on April 8.
Update: The @movies website reports that the film was #5 in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, below Slumdog Millionaire (first week), Departures (third week), Watchmen (second week), and Friday the 13th (third week). Thanks, dormcat.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history