Matt Schley
April 20, 2015 
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, the latest film in the Dragon Ball franchise, opened with a kamehameha at the Japanese box office this weekend, earning 960 million yen ($8.4 million) between Saturday and Sunday.
In Japan, a film must earn about one billion yen – over its entire run – to be considered a hit, meaning Resurrection ‘F’ is on its way to becoming a monster, with some estimating it will earn over 5 billion yen.
By comparison, the previous film in the franchise, Battle of Gods, earned a total of 3 billion yen over its theatrical run.
Why did so many people show up to see the film? Anime news site Anime Anime suspects the return of the popular character Freiza, not to mention the fact the film was written by original series creator Akira Toriyama, played a big part.
Meanwhile, site natalie.mu shared a report from the film’s April 18 premiere in Shinjuku, guests of which included Goku’s voice actor, Masako Nozawa, director Tadayoshi Yamamuro, and idol group Momoiro Clover Z, who performed the film’s theme song, “Oath of Z,” in costume as Dragon Ball characters.
It was also announced the same day the film would be playing in 74 countries, to which Nozawa responded, “what a surprise. I mean, 74! How exciting,” before launching into a kamehameha.
Finally, reviews of the film have been trickling in from both Japanese and English sources (the film had its world premiere April 11 in Los Angeles). Charles Solomon at Indiewire writes Resurrection ‘F’ “will delight fans of this long-running property,” but Japanese critic Yuichi Maeda gave the film 55 out of 100 points, writing there’s no for the film to exist, and that the only good thing about it is its short (94 minute) runtime. Harsh.
Meanwhile, we here at Otaku USA Japan HQ will be posting our own review in the coming week [EDIT: here it is].
Are you looking forward to Resurrection ‘F’, or have you moved on from Dragon Ball Z?
Sources: Anime Anime, natalie.mu
Related Stories:
– Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ [Review]
– Momoiro Clover Z ‘F’ MV Trailer Released
– DBZ: Resurrection ‘F’ to hit the U.S. First
– Goku’s Voice Actor + 1000 Fans Do A Kamehameha
– New Dragon Ball Z Fan Film Outdoes Hollywood
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