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Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, which released in Japan in March 2013 and made 3 billion yen in box office revenue, will now release in North America this August. Screenings will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 5 in over 400 theaters across the U.S. and Canada.
Releasing the movie is FUNimation Entertainment, which played a big role in bringing the Dragon Ball series to the U.S., along with help from Screenvision, which creates movie and theater advertisements. This is a unique collaboration.
The anime based on Dragon Ball, the original work by Akira Toriyama, is a widely known series loved across all ages. This is the same overseas as well, with the Dragon Ball series being highly popular in countries around the world. It is one of the most widely known Japanese anime of all time. To date, FUNimation has been in charge of the North American broadcast of the anime, sales of video merchandise, and licensing of the series in North America. However, this is the first time it is working on directly releasing a movie in the series. Gen Fukunaga, CEO of FUNimation, is excited about the release of the film across North America this summer. “*Dragon Ball* is an extremely big work for FUNimation, and I can’t wait for fans to be able to enjoy it on the big screen,” he commented.
Though there is a huge amount of theater screens in the U.S., nationwide releases that utilize this vast network are limited to huge Hollywood blockbusters. Excluding Studio Ghibli films, Japanese anime rarely release countrywide in the U.S., making the breadth of this release on 400 screens unprecedented. Because of that, there is high interest in the movie.
Screenvision is based in New York and is the leading advertising agency for movies and theaters. They are making full use of their vast network to distribute this movie to North America. This groundbreaking project attests to the popularity of the Dragon Ball series. Interest seems to be accumulating for how this new movie in the Dragon Ball series, which has been at the top of Japanese anime in the U.S. since it began in the ‘90s, will do in North America.
Source: animeanime
