Toonami

FINAL UPDATE, Thursday, August 20th, 12:05 PM: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F has left theaters racking up a whopping $8.4M in its final tally. It will now head into home video release, starting on Oct. 9th in North America. And to capitalize on the fan-crazed run, all three Dragon Ball Z titles will be released simultaneously. The film was initially supposed to play from Aug. 4 to Aug. 12 but because of the stupendous box office takes in the theaters it was playing in, exhibitors asked to continue to play it.

FUNimation Entertainment, which marketed and distributed the film, agreed to let it run past the initial end date and it was a good move as the anime movie took in more in one week than other mainstream movies in wide release. This one played only one time a day in most places and two times a day when it could in a handful of theaters.

5TH UPDATE, Thursday, 12:58 PM: Distributor FUNimation is keeping its indie anime hit Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F in some theaters beyond its original nine-day run that was to end last night. The company said it’s been getting calls today from some outfits asking to keep the movie playing at least through the weekend. The sides are still working out details about screen counts and locations, but it’s a major blue ribbon for FUNimation, which marketed the film solely on the grassroots level. The movie finished yesterday in 457 locals to surpass $8M at the box office after its nine days.

4TH UPDATE, Thursday, 11:17 AM: The final gross is in for the fan-charged anime feature Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F . In one week, with a roller-coaster event release schedule — at its lowest, it was in the double-digits in number of theaters and at its highest was over 900 — the Japanese fan favorite ended its nine-day run last night in 457 locales. Wednescay added another $479K to bring the film’s final cume to a little over $8M for indie FUNimation, which marketed and distributed this film. Excellent run, considering the short span of release and that its marketing was all done on the grassroots level.

3RD UPDATE, Wednesday, 10:46 AM: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F grossed $1.2M yesterday and ranked No. 1 in average per screen over all other new releases this past weekend (and including sophomore player and No. 1 weekend champ Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation ) with $1,475. The new North American cume for this anime surprise is now $7.5M+ with one more day left to play. So it’s not over yet.

2ND UPDATE, TUESDAY, 9:59 AM: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is now up to $6.3M after a very strong Sunday play in only 181 theaters. And they reached that gross with only one showtime in most of the theaters since releasing the anime pic on Tuesday. Yesterday and today, the execs at FUNimation were able to capitalize on the film’s fan-crazed success and got some great news from exhibitors anxious to play the pic: It’s now able to up the theater count from the planned 200 theater to between 780 to 800 today.

The anime wonder is also being allowed to be played not only once in the afternoon but also once at night tonight with some exhibs. The distributor expects another very strong performance today before ending its run on Wednesday when the film will be in approximately 200 theaters … or, at this point, maybe more, given that exhib reponse has been through the roof.

UPDATE, MONDAY, 10:25 AM: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F grossed $322K on 183 screens yesterday for a per screen avg of $1,761 — which was the anime film’s highest per screen average of the weekend. The three-day weekend churned out a total gross of $1,811,063 and that was with a limited number of theaters on Friday. The anime picture, marketed and distributed by FUNimation Entertainment, which played mostly in matinees on Saturday and played on only 183 screens Sunday , now has a total cume of $5.97M since opening on Tuesday.

Resurrection F stepped into the Top Ten of highest-grossing anime titles domestically and marked the first time an indie-distributed title got into those ranks. It will continue to play until Wednesday, in 200 theaters tonight and then 250 on Tuesday. More grosses to come as we get them.

PREVIOUS, SUNDAY, 8:52 AM: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F grossed another $1.36M on Saturday to bring its five-day total to $5.58M in North America, easily jumping past the total domestic grosses of Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle ($4.7M) and The Wind Rises to become the first indie in the Top 10 highest grossing Anime films domestic. In fact, it bleated out the Shaun the Sheep Movie which was playing in major chains across the country and on many more screens (2,320 theaters) to gross $4M since bowing on Wednesday. Resurrection F , from FUNima tion, opened on Tuesday and was in a smattering of theaters in a sporadic run. It now becomes No. 9 of Top Anime domestic grossers and Wind Rises (with $5.2M) is now No. 10.

To reach that spot is even more noteworthy because both of Miyazaki’s films were released by Disney and had to play for weeks to get their grosses. Not so, with Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F which has been on a rollercoaster event release schedule and playing for only one week.

And because of the success, the Japanese fan favorite is able to add theaters on Monday (initially, they were going to go dark).

“Due to overwhelming response from our fans, we have over 200 theaters coming back on for tomorrow,” said Michael DuBoise, exec VP and chief operating officer of FUNimation who oversees marketing and distribution for the pic. “And we now have 250 for Tuesday so that will be 450 locations for those two days that we didn’t have in our initial plan. Our fan base has really embraced the film, and it’s going push (the gross) even higher in the week.” Wednesday the film will stay in a number of theaters (367) so the final gross will be reported then.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F already grossed $51.6M overseas. It scored the biggest opening in Japan of 2015 and it had some stiff competition with Universal’s Fast & Furious 7 (as it was titled internationally). It was released by Fox in Japan and took No. 1 to mark a 40% higher opening than its predecessor, Dragonball Z: Battle Of Gods in 2013.

Interestingly, Kelli Crain, VP of marketing who (like DuBoise) came from the Home Video unit at Universal, worked on Battle of the Gods so was very familiar with the fan base and exactly how to reach them. By the way, Battle of Gods grossed $2.5 million for its entire run but on its first day, Resurrection F took in 67% of that gross.

To reach those fans, Crain oversaw a grassroots campaign on the Internet and social media fan sites because there was little money for marketing. Because of that, they bought very little TV and only spent media for the Toonami block of Adult Swim. They grabbed retail partner Hot Topic to launch  in-store promotions as they promoted the anime film at Comic-Com and anime fan conventions.  To add excitement and drive fans into the theater, they also produced a special 15-minute Dragon Ball Z themed pre-show to play before the film.

The result was a highly successful week-long box office run that the industry won’t soon forget.

After a highly successful international run, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F opened in the domestic market in only 895 select theaters and playing only one time a night — at 7 PM and the performance here is as stunning as it was overseas in Japan. On Tuesday and last night, it had collected a whopping $1.97M and Wednesday is said to have drawn in another $1.55M on 900 theaters. The movie’s per screen average of more than $2,198 landed it in first place yesterday among all movies. Theater sell outs were reported in major metropolitan areas including New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. They could pull in a similar $1.5M number tonight as well. In fact, this anime picture, on a budget of only $5M, could end up doing $18M to $19M in one week domestically.

The event-style just broke the mold of the traditional distribution pattern and playtimes. It made more than double the amount that Shaun The Sheep Movie did last night (which grossed $852K) in  1,300 less theaters.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F has already grossed $51.6M overseas. It scored the biggest opening in Japan of 2015 and it had some stiff competition with Universal’s Fast & Furious 7 (as it was titled internationally). It was released by Fox in Japan and took No. 1 to mark a 40% higher opening than its predecessor, Dragonball Z: Battle Of Gods in 2013.

Same is happening domestically. Battle of Gods grossed $2.5 million for its entire run. So Resurrection F on its first day took in 67% of that gross in one day.

“This film is a resounding victory on all levels,” said David Wengrod, VP of Theatrical Distribution for FUNimation Entertainment which is distributing. Gen Fukunaga is the founder and president of the FUNimation which deftly marketed this film to fan boys. As part of that push, it produced a special 15-minute, Dragon Ball Z themed pre-show to play before the film.

“We did a lot of grassroots efforts. Our budget was very low compared to Hollywood standards,” said Fukunaga who would not disclose the marketing budget. “We did careful media placement and didn’t do much TV. We bought a small flight of commercials which appeared on the Toonami block of Adult Swim.” He said they did a full court PR push and Internet promotional effort to Dragon Ball Z and anime fans. “We reached out to those who influence (Internet culture) to promote to their audiences. We were able tap existing fans through their channels and, in some cases, reached millions of their followers. We had a retail partner, Hot Topic, which did in-store promotions” that helped to get the word out. They also promoted Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F at Comic-Con and anime conventions.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F is the second feature from series creator, Akira Toriyama. The animated movie opens in Canada on Thursday, August 6, and will screen in about 1,030 theaters total during its limited theatrical engagement from August 4 – 12, 2015 .

The movie is now the 8 ^th highest anime opening of all time and the first limited event-style theatrical release to crack the box office Top 10. Well done.

Unreal 4, Unreal 5? No no no, take me back to the old Unreal: Facing Worlds (opens in new tab) , unbeatable soundtracks, ” Yes, this is a screenshot (opens in new tab) ,” now that’s the stuff. Upcoming FPS Ghostware (opens in new tab) turns the indie boomer shooter renaissance’s propensity for reinterpretation and revitalization of old classics on Epic (Megagames)’s original hits, using the vibes and visuals of classic arena shooters to stealthily present a story-heavy, single player game.

You wake up in what seems to be a conscious recreation of a ’90s shooter within the game’s fiction. The “Wizard,” a game master with the so-cringey-it’s-charming bearing of the Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, has trapped your consciousness in this digital world, and wants you to duke it out for eternity with your fellow amnesiac, quirky, anime-style prisoners.

The setup reminds me a lot of Neon White, and like Neon White, the dialogue’s a little, uh, goofy. That’s not a problem for me though⁠—I’m an ideological Sardaukar warrior who will always take up arms to defend Neon White’s goofy dialogue (opens in new tab) , and I already find Ghostware’s self-conscious Toonami dub dorks growing on me.

And the shooting underpinning it all feels great. There’s always been something to recommend just loading into an arena shooter with a bunch of bots and going to town, but adding in story and a campaign structure really makes it pop. Ghostware does a great job of emulating the cadence of arena shooter gameplay, and your opponents all nail the particularly squirrely, slippery nature of such a game’s AI opponents.

Ghostware also blends genres and goes off the rails in interesting ways. In between levels, you can chat up your fellow players in a hub area, check collectible lore entries, and revisit empty maps in search of secrets. This last feature reminds me of the Haunted PS1 game, No Players Online (opens in new tab) , and similarly captures the eerie loneliness of being on an empty multiplayer server. While you hunt for boomer shooter level secrets, a kind of Slenderman-y, glitchy poltergeist slowly pursues you, ensuring that you can’t dawdle.

Similarly, there’s a more puzzle/exploration level inserted toward the end of the demo and presented as “unfinished content” you’ve glitched into. It has a great eerie ambience to it, and the demo culminates in a fun boss battle that feels like a more easygoing version of Ultrakill’s V2 (opens in new tab) .

Ghostware also has a great Y2K vibe to its menu and UI: most of its interface has that translucent, chunky, aero vibe of Deus Ex’s UI elements, while the main menu is a cheeky mockup of a Windows 98-style desktop. Ghostware  is set to launch in early access on April 12, and you can currently wishlist it and check out the demo on Steam (opens in new tab) .

“Blade Runner Black Out 2022” Image: Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube

A “Blade Runner” anime has been greenlit and will be produced by Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.

The new anime was inspired by director Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049” and will be titled “Blade Runner-Black Lotus.” Shinichiro Watanabe, who directed the classic sci-fi anime “Cowboy Bebop” and the animated short “Blade Runner Black Out 2022,” is also on board as a creative producer, reports Variety.

Animation studio Sola Digital Arts will also be part of the production process. Shinji Aramaki, famed for the “Appleseed” anime films, and Kenji Kamiyama who directed the “Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex” series, will share the director’s seat for all 13 episodes of the premiere season.

Worldwide distribution of the show in English-dubbed form will be handled by Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s adult-oriented nighttime programming block, and aired on the anime block Toonami. This goes for all territories except Asia.

Meanwhile, Crunchyroll will take care of the worldwide streaming segment. However, details  including the series’ premiere are still unavailable as of this writing.

“Blade Runner 2049” is a 2017 film starring Ryan Gosling. The film is a direct follow-up to the 1982 cult sci-fi classic “Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott, which starred Harrison Ford. Ford also reprised his role as Rick Deckard in “2049.” Alfred Bayle /ra

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HBO Max’s rampage through its own catalogue of streaming content last year left a wide swathe Batgirl and Scoob: Holiday Haunt : C Batman animated series Caped Crusader , a highly anticipated collaboration between The Batman director Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm. HBO Max made it clear, even in the midst of the bloodbath, that it wasn’t interested in killing the animated series : It just didn’t want it for itself.

Luckily, a kindly billionaire named Amazon has decided to take the series on as its ward, with THR reporting that the retail giant has scooped up the series for a two-season order. Amazon was one of several streamers who apparently bid on the series, which isn’t surprising, given the pedigree involved: Abrams is Abrams, Reeves is hot off reviving the Batman film franchise, and Timm is working with writers like celebrated comics author Ed Brubaker to bring this latest vision of Gotham City to life. Is it any wonder that Netflix, Apple, Hulu—pretty much everybody except the show’s own animation-hating parents —wanted a bite at this thing?

Deals are still being formalized, so there’s no word yet on when the series will pop up in its new palatial streaming home. No details on the actual content of the series, either, although the few visuals that have been handed out make it clear that Timm and company are interested in re- Batman: The Animated Series for a new streaming generation.