After opening in Japanese cinemas this weekend, One Piece Film: Red recorded the second-best opening weekend ever for a movie in Japan.
Specifically, the new One Piece movie took home JPY 2.25 billion (USD 16.63 million) during its opening weekend. This means Film: Red now holds the biggest opening weekend ever for a One Piece movie.
Along with these records, the movie is the new record holder of the best opening weekend in Japan for August. The film's box office record was shared on the series' official Twitter account.
Take note, One Piece Film: Red isn’t just the second-biggest opening for an anime movie, it’s the second-best out of all movies in Japan.
While anime movies have long dominated the Japanese box office, the new One Piece movie’s record is still impressive.
As it stands, the only movie to have a bigger two-day opening than Film: Red is Demon Slayer: Mugen Train which got JPY 3.3 billion in its opening weekend.
Take note though, that this isn’t an exact comparison. While the aforementioned box office numbers are from the Saturday and Sunday gross of the movies, Film: Red opened on a Saturday while the Demon Slayer movie opened on a Friday.
If the Friday box office numbers are counted, Film: Red slips to a lower spot in the all-time opening weekend gross.
Whatever the case may be, what is sure is that Film: Red is the biggest One Piece movie ever.
If its success continues, it might just become the new highest-grossing film in the franchise, surpassing One Piece Film: Z which has a JPY 6.87 billion total gross.
One Piece Film: Red is the fifteenth feature film in the franchise, and it follows Luffy and the Strat Hat crew as they attend the concert of Uta, the world’s most popular singer. Unbeknownst to most, Uta is actually the daughter of legendary pirate Shanks.
The film is set to release in major countries/regions all over the world. It is confirmed to release in cinemas in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, and more in Fall 2022.
Given its success in Japan, it will be interesting to see how well it will fare at the international box office.