Box Office Mojo reports that Funimation‘s limited theatrical run of the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ film earned US$1,967,626 on its opening night on Tuesday. That gives the film a per-screen average of US$2,198, the highest among the top 10 movies playing in the United States on August 4.

friezaThe film ranked #6 in overall box office gross for August 4. This makes the film eighth highest anime film opening of all time in the United States “and the first limited event-style theatrical release to crack the Top 10.” It opened on 894 theaters.

Funimation Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Duboise stated that Funimation is “thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive fan response to the movie. We knew the opening would be very good but its performance has exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

The limited theatrical engagement is runing in over 1,000 theaters in the United States from August 4 to August 12, and the film will open in Canada on Thursday.

In Japan, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ earned approximately 1.29 billion yen (about US$10.9 million) in its first six days, and sold over 1 million tickets in its first seven days at the Japanese box office.

The previous Dragon Ball film, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, earned US$2.2 million after its first two days in the U.S.

Funimation streamed the film’s second English-dubbed trailer in July:

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ premiered on 658 screens in both 2D and 3D in theaters across Japan on April 18, although advance screenings were held before then. The film was the first Japanese film to open in 3D IMAX Digital Theaters.

Funimation hosted the North American premiere of the film on April 11 in Los Angeles. The company then streamed the film’s first English theatrical teaser trailer in May, and it premiered the film’s English dub at Anime Expo on July 2.

Chris Ayres returned to play Frieza in the English dub. He previously played the character in the Dragon Ball Z Kai edition of the earlier television anime series. Todd Haberkorn joined the cast as Jaco.

Original manga creator Akira Toriyama is personally credited with the original concept, screenplay, and character designs of the film, and Dragon Ball Z animation director Tadayoshi Yamamuro directed the film. Pop idol group Momoiro Clover Z (Sailor Moon Crystal, Bodacious Space Pirates) performed the film’s theme song, and also voiced roles in the movie, playing “angels” of hell that reside where the protagonist Son Goku’s enemy Frieza has been imprisoned.

Toriyama said in an interview in November that the ‘F’ in the film’s title stands for “Frieza,” who is revived in the film. Toriyama noted that he thought of the title while listening to “F” by rock band Maximum The Hormone, whom he came to know personally through a friend. The song itself features Frieza as a motif, and is used as a “battle song” during one of the battle scenes in the film. The band originally released the song as its eighth single in July 2008.

[Via Toonami News]

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