Apr 21, 2023

"The First slam Dunk" posted the first day of中国13.9 million in China, and "Sparrow" is still in the top 5.

Mario may have dominated most of the world, but in China, he's just hooked on the Japanese hit movie "First Slam Dunk", which opened with a historic13.93 million first day and is staring at the historic opening weekend.

Toei Animation's first slam Duck technically tipped off on Wednesday night pulling pulling3.16 million from a preview screening. On Thursday, the first day in Chinese theaters, the film grossed an additionalい13.9 million, bringing the cumulative box office total toい17.09 million, and the weekend was ahead of it.

The final Slam Dunk was dramatized from a manga named after Takehiko Inoue and written and directed by Inoue himself. The film was a box-office hit in Japan when it was released in Japan on May 12 last year and has since grossedド98.7 million. This was a major factor in producer Toei finishing 2022 with the highest-ever Japanese box office. The film also performed well in South Korea, earning an additionalー1.4 million since its debut in South Korea on March 3500.

The huge Chinese opening weekend for the first slam dunk continues the trend of big-name Japanese animation features surpassing Chinese box office last month, Makoto Shinkai's "Sparrow" debuted withド50.7 million. Since then, the film has not left the top 5 and has accumulated 112.53 million in China so far, making it the 2nd to have produced more Japanese animated films in China than in Japan. The first was Stand By Me Doraemon in 2014.

Cartoon Brew's Take: As China opens its doors to more foreign films, anime could become one of the saving grace for exhibitors suffering under strict government censorship and the embargo on many imported films.1 Hollywood has sent some of its high-profile films to China, but in most cases they Boot Puss with the same success as Japan's biggest anime title: Last Wish made$6.8 million in China alone, and Mario sits atマ1.18.08 million after two and a half weeks. The last slam dunk will gross more in its first two days.