Japanese hit “The First Slam Dunk” scores in Asia ahead of European rollout

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s biweekly segment where we highlight the TV shows and movies that are killing it in their local territories. The industry is more global than ever, but groundbreaking hits keep popping up in parts of the world and it can be hard to keep up… so we’ll do the hard work for you.

This week we show our first film, a Japanese basketball animation The first slam dunk of legendary One piece Studio Toei animation. Since launching in Japan in early December 2022, it has grossed over $115 million worldwide.

Of: The first slam dunk
Country: Japan
Manufacturer: Wrestling animation
International Sales: Wrestling animation
For fans of: Chang Can Dunken, demon hunter, YES drama

Global audiences are no strangers to Japanese animation and manga adaptations, especially given the recent success of submissions from the Demon hunter, One piece And dragon ball Stables. However, they often require a deep knowledge of the source material that is reserved for a hardcore fan base. Then came with me The first slam dunk. It is a hit in its native country and Korea and also has a Chinese release date of April 20th. The current worldwide box office, mostly from Asia, is over $115 million.

spot shot began as a shonen manga by Takehiko Inoue, serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump from 1990 to 1996. The original series, which charts the personal growth of various high school basketball players, has sold more than 120 million copies in Japan and helped countless boys and girls get into basketball.

An anime series (which ran from October 1993 to March 1996), several video games, and other media based on the manga have also been produced. In addition, the Slam Dunk Scholarship was established in 2006 to support young basketball players in Japan. A new edition with 20 volumes was published in 2018. An artwork compilation, Plus/Slam Dunk Illustrations 2, was released in 2020 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the series’ launch.

The film is aimed at a wider audience than just fandom. It revolves around Ryota Miyagi, whose love of basketball was passed down to him by his older brother Sota, who died in an accident at sea when Ryota was very young. A point guard for Shohoku, who has a ticket to the national tournament representing Kanagawa Prefecture despite being an unknown high school, Ryota must face the “unbeatable” champion Sannoh with his teammates.

It was released in Japan on December 3 and stayed at the top of the charts for eight weeks—even then Avatar: the way of water got out there. The domestic box office is estimated at over $83 million.

In South Korea where Next Entertainment World came out The first slam dunk on January 4, it also had a phenomenal run, earning over $30 million. It is the highest-grossing film on the market since its release in 2023 (for comparison: avatar 2, which came out in mid-December last year, earned $35.7 million). It is the highest grossing Japanese animation of all time, beating the previous record holder your name after 61 days in release and spent much of it at #1. There is also renewed interest in the comics, with Yonhap reporting an increase in sales – more than 1 million copies flew off the shelves shortly after the film’s release.

According to Kobiz (via Crunchyroll), the biggest demonstration in Korea was in the 30s, followed by those in the 40s and 20s. The gender distribution is essentially equal for men and women.

special work

The film has a special appeal and attracts a wide audience. We understand that there was a desire to not only appeal to the fan base, but to create something distinct and independent of the original story, accessible to all.

Although Japan has a rich history in the field of animation, including master Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo) and Makato Shinkai (Your name that weathers with you and now suzume), anime is not a genre that usually lends itself to western remakes. Perhaps the thought is, “Why interfere with perfection?” Although we understand that there are currently no plans for a remake of The first slam dunkThis seems like a potential candidate: the plot is pretty simple, and basketball is such a universal sport.

Recent successes such as that of Toei Animation One piece of foil red, has hundreds of characters and exists in a universe that requires some knowledge of the source material. During this title and the Demon hunter films shine internationally, The first slam dunk is firmly rooted in reality and concrete daily activities rather than existing in an imaginary universe.

It should be noted that Disney+ will soon drop live family sports drama Chang Can Dunken about an Asian-American teenager and basketball fanatic who just wants to dive in and get the girl, but ends up learning a lot more about himself, his best friends, and his mother. The two films are not related.

Recent studio adaptations of a Japanese property include Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and the coming The movie Super Mario Brosalthough both are more related to games made by Nintendo from Japan.

The first slam dunk just started launching in Europe, Italy coming soon via Anime Factory/Plaion and France coming this summer (France is a big manga market). Nothing is currently known about a US release.

A Japanese executive explains that live-action remakes of Japanese animation carry an inherent risk when the original writer is not involved. This person suggests that one of the reasons for the success of The first slam dunk the involvement of writer Inoue, who wrote and directed the film, was a salve for die-hard fans.

We were told that given the intensity and size of the fan base, there is actually value in having the original writer’s involvement.

We hear another reason for the success of The first slam dunk was the changing tastes of the Japanese public, which changed somewhat during the pandemic. The most active demo, people in their 20s, seems to be fundamentally moving away from Hollywood films in favor of local images.

With a limited number of titles released during Covid, people watched movies and animation on streamers. For big hits like Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, it is suggested that audiences caught up with the TV series, which then offered built-in promotion for its theatrical release. Although spot shot‘s original comic and television run ended in 1996, the series was available for streaming.

The expectations for this are high The first slam dunk in China, a basketball-loving nation that has recently hosted several Japanese films despite historical and geopolitical tensions. USC professor and China expert Stanley Rosen told Deadline that in addition to the obvious quality of certain Japanese films coming out this year, China has long “wanted to diversify, and no longer rely solely on Hollywood for imported films” and is seeing more international film productions .

Toei’s basketball story is one of them spot shot by these measures.