What were the first-weekend results of “ONE PIECE FILM RED,” which opened in North America?

Released in 2,367 theaters in North America, “ONE PIECE FILM RED” (currently being released in Japan) ranked in second place, recording $9,335,831 (approximately 1.3 billion yen) in box office revenue in its first three days.

It is a mega-hit in Japan, recording 13 million viewers and 18 billion yen in box-office revenue.

Although it came in second place on the weekend, it was the number one film at the daily box office on the first day.

Japanese animated films have been doing remarkably well in North America since the Corona disaster, with “Blade of the Demon” the Movie: Infinity Train” (20) opening to over $20 million and grossing $49.5 million in the final box office.

Jujutsu Kaisen Gekijoban 0″ (21) opened to $18 million and grossed $34.54 million at the final box office. And “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” (22), which was released in North America in August, debuted at number one with $21.12 million at the box office and a final gross of $38.11 million.

Compared to these three titles, the opening box office for “ONE PIECE FILM RED” may seem lackluster, but the North American results of previous “ONE PIECE” films include “ONE PIECE FILM GOLD” (16), which grossed $420,000 in its limited 10-day or so release, and the previous “ONE PIECE STAMPEDE” (19) was released in 541 theaters and grossed $1.29 million. Since it was sluggish even taking the screening scale into consideration, it is clear that the film has grown rapidly with this release.

Crunchyroll is in charge of North American distribution. The company, which had been mainly engaged in the distribution business, offering anime and manga in over 200 countries and regions, merged with Funimation (the distribution company that had distributed “Blade of Demon’s Destruction: Infinity Train” in North America) in March of this year. The company has been especially trusted by anime fans, as it distributed both ” Jujutsu Kaisen 0 the Movie” and “Dragon Ball Super Hero” in North America, leading them to become hits.

It is a great honor for Japanese animation to be able to compete on an equal footing with major motion pictures, and we cannot help but look forward to further expansion.

While Crunchyroll is strong at the box office, GKids, which distributes Ghibli and Mamoru Hosoda films, has a strong presence at film awards.

It is important to remember that these two companies are leading the overseas expansion of Japanese animation.

Crunchyroll has also acquired the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Asia) for Makoto Shinkai’s “Suzume no Tojimari” (currently in theaters in Japan), which is scheduled for release early next year.