CATDOLL: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is a box office success in the U.S. and its distribution method has sparked heated debate

Although the Hollywood remake of Dragon Ball was a complete disaster in terms of box office and reputation, the latest theatrical version Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F was surprisingly successful in the United States in 2015. The film was shown in only 894 theaters with one show per day from August 4th, and ranked fifth in the daily box office for two consecutive days. The single-theater performance was even ranked first, and the first-day box office was expected to hit $18 million in the first six days of the week. The film's reputation was surprisingly good, with a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F was released in a very special way in the United States. Each theater only showed the film once a night, but before each screening, a 15-minute "Dragon Ball theme show" was held to allow the audience to fully experience the Dragon Ball culture. That's how it was. The film earned $1.97 million on its opening day on August 4 and $1.6 million on Wednesday night, ranking fifth for two consecutive days. The average single-theater performance for these two days was $2,198, ranking first among all the films in theaters, and even Mission: Impossible 5: Rogue Nation was no match for it.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F North American trailer:

In contrast, "Shaun the Sheep," which adopted a traditional distribution method, opened in 1,300 theaters on Wednesday, and the box office on the same day was only about half of "Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F" ($850,000).

On the one hand, the hunger marketing has achieved results, and on the other hand, the film has a very good reputation. Many media outlets said that "Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F" returns to the Dragon Ball style of fighting and humor. Although the overall story lacks novelty, the long and exciting action scenes still make Dragon Ball fans enjoy it.

The story of the film is also a return to form. Unlike the 2013 theatrical version of Dragon Ball Z: Rise of the Gods, which created a new villain, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F will revive Frieza, the most acclaimed villain in the original comic, and make him the biggest villain in the film. Akira Toriyama himself is in charge of the script and character design for this film, and the animation is directed by Naoki Yamamuro.

The film sold out almost every night in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The film cost only $5 million to make, and the US media estimated that it could earn $18 million in the first six days of its release. In 2013, the total box office of Dragon Ball Z: Rise of the Gods in the US was only $2.5 million, but this time it surpassed that record in just two nights.

The head of the distribution company FUNimation Entertainment said that since they had very little marketing money, they had to give up TV advertising and focus on the Internet and anime exhibitions to promote to Japanese anime fans. "Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F" still achieved the 8th best opening performance of Japanese anime movies in the United States under such a small-scale and special distribution model. Earlier, the film was released in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other countries and regions, and achieved a box office of 51.6 million US dollars. In Japan, it even beat its rival "Fast and Furious 7" at the same time.

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