James Marsters' Dragonball Evolution Opens in 8th Spot with $4.65 M - Cast&Crew

Ooh, that's not so great, is it? Does anyone know what the budget on this thing was?

Sorry for James, but I am not surprised in the least that this movie is bombing.

I'd rather see a bad Dragonball movie with Marsters (or even without him) than a Hannah Montana movie, a Dreamworks animation, or a Fast and Furious movie.

Arsenal | April 12, 21:17 CET

It's supposed to be a budget of between $45 and $50 million but that's not officially confirmed

Undeniably bad box office in the US but , on the upside,it's already done $27million in Asia. France and Russia. The figures from the other 26 territories it opened in this week aren't in yet.

By the way I rather enjoyed the film. It was fun and entertaining. I've seen far worse films which have had far kinder reviews and better US box office.

[ edited by debw on 2009-04-12 21:21 ]

debw | April 12, 21:18 CET

I don't think they cared about the NA box office. If they did they would have advertised it.

I enjoyed it. I just went for James, but I really liked the whole movie. It's a lot of fun.

redeem147 | April 12, 21:25 CET

I foolishly went to see Fast and Furious. A decision i've been regretting ever since.

stuffy | April 12, 21:44 CET

I only went to see James as Piccolo, and was very surprised that I loved the movie. Have already preordered the DVD on Amazon and will go see it again on the big screen. I did not like any of the trailers, but the movie did not bog down, really fast paced, had humor and great Piccolo scenes and fights. All in all 5 stars from me. And Piccolo was GREAT.

rehabber | April 12, 21:46 CET

Ohhh I didn't know the DVD was available for pre-order, must add it to my list! Thanks for the info rehabber. And I agree, had it not been for James I wouldn't have seen the film. But actually it was one of the most enjoyable trips to the cinema I've had in a long time.

debw | April 12, 21:56 CET

Outch.

Ricardo L. | April 12, 22:00 CET

Update

Hollywood reporter is saying that

Dragonball Evolution was the #4 overseas film this weekend . $10.4 million for an overseas total of $37million.

So that's heading for $42 million overall.

Screendaily has the breakdown (thanks to Stage1 at CDS for this bit)

"Fox International’s Dragonball: Evolution opened in 28 new markets this weekend and grossed $10.6m from approximately 4,500 screens in 35 markets for a $37m tally.

The action fantasy opened well in Spain in third place on a little over $2m from 350, second in Italy on $1.3m from 391 and fifth in Australia on $907,506 from 193. The UK launch generated $539,754 from 316.

Dragonball: Evolution was a strong performer in Latin America, opening in fourth place in Brazil on $832,857 from 156, third in Mexico on just over $1m in from 564, third in Venezuela on an excellent $ 587,249 from 55, and second in Argentina on $272,678 from 48.

Finally $181,612 from 26 in Ecuador deserves special mention as it not only delivered a number one ranking but Fox’s sixth highest opening weekend of all time in the territory. "

That puts the US "ouch" factor into perspective :)

[ edited by debw on 2009-04-12 22:11 ]

debw | April 12, 22:00 CET

None of my friends wanted to see Dragonball with me. (they are all hardcore Dragonball fans)

so, we had to see Fast and Furious which I can say was very disappointing. My commercial lied, no Jordana driving till the last two minutes, and Han went off to die :(

RheaM | April 12, 22:12 CET

Sorry James, but I'm laughing hysterically.

Egghead | April 12, 22:40 CET

Is it better than Speed Racer? As I switched that DVD off after 10 minutes.

Also James in Ulysses 31 would be ace.

Simon | April 12, 22:41 CET

I watched this movie.

All though it was kind of a fanboy movie, I liked it and I thought James did well as Piccolo. Chichi was more of an attention grabber than Piccolo for me =)

Chris the Bloody | April 12, 23:04 CET

I thought Chi Chi was quite good. There's a few 'empowered women' characters.

redeem147 | April 12, 23:11 CET

I haven't seen Speed Racer, but I think Dragonball Evolution fails even as a good non-Dragonball fantasy movie, what with too many plotholes and tons of bad acting (not counting Marsters, who was good for the six minutes he was actually in it). And I kind of want to see Speed Racer, now that I've been reminded. Just going by the commercials, I know the CGI is much better than in Dragonball.

I have to disagree with Chi Chi or any other female in this movie being an empowered woman, but discussing that would be very spoilerish, I think.

LiLi | April 12, 23:17 CET

Okay, if not empowered, butt-kicking.

redeem147 | April 12, 23:56 CET

Bulma seemed pretty darned empowered to me too :)

debw | April 13, 00:00 CET

On the plus side, as others have indicated, there are now multiple revenue streams for films, North American box office is just one of a number. NA Box Office gets press coverage, but overseas, as well as DVD, pay per view, rentals and other outlets, can add very substantial revenues to a film. At one time, a 'box office bomb' meant lost investments, but that is no longer the rule. As far as this movie is concerned, it's only the first week. Perhaps word of mouth will propel it forward in the coming weeks?

Peanut Noir | April 13, 00:20 CET

There's no accounting 4 taste hannah montana shades of marley and me and high school musical boring lm looking forward 2 seeing james' movie

zee | April 13, 00:57 CET

(first post, yay!)
i approached this movie as a fan of anime, but not particularly well versed in dragonball. i thought that james, emmy rossum and chow yun-fat were particularly good, but odd as it seems, i had a tough time getting into james' character in relation to other things i've seen him in aside from buffy/angel (notably andromeda and torchwood), because his makeup and vocal distortion really took "james" out of the role for me. that said, an enjoyable time i don't regret seeing.
oh, and fast and furious was awful, and i liked the whole franchise.

kefka | April 13, 01:01 CET

Zee: What's wrong with Marley and Me?

Out of that list, I saw Monsters vs. Aliens, Observe and Report, I Love You Man, Adventureland, and plan on seeing Dragonball Evolution. Monsters was surprisingly not good at all. Observe and Report, I thought was okay the first time, and a lot more enjoyable the second time I saw it. I Love You Man and Adventureland were fantastic, and everyone should see either of those a-sap. As for Dragonball, I plan on seeing that out of loyalty to a) James Marsters and b) my eighth grade Dragon Ball Z loving self, who would kill adult me if he found out I didn't see the live action movie.

patxshand | April 13, 01:41 CET

I found that I heard James through the voice modulation more than I thought I would from the trailer. Just took a tick to get used to it.

redeem147 | April 13, 03:37 CET

I've yet to see it, but my child-self is itching to see it, with my mature mind finding itself thinking it's going to be a disappointment. Still, if it has James Marsters and (hopefully) large amounts of time "charging up" before a fight (with much screaming), should be entertaining.

On a less personal note, are the figures for how it did in Australia in yet?

Archduke Sebassis | April 13, 03:44 CET

Screendaily reports it was 5th at the Australian box-office with $907,506.

helcat | April 13, 04:06 CET

So where does this weekend put DBE on the list on Whedonverse related box office totals?

iowagirl | April 13, 04:17 CET

Zee, please try to use regular punctuation and spelling in your posts, as per our rules. Thanks.

SoddingNancyTribe | April 13, 04:31 CET

The studio has greenlit a sequel. Just FYI.

gossi | April 13, 05:57 CET

Sorry for James, but I am not surprised in the least that this movie is bombing.

I pretty much agree.

dulce_serenidad | April 13, 06:00 CET

My two nine year old nephews who accompanied me to the show on Saturday enjoyed it tremendously. I also thought it was a fun romp, and the teaser in the end credits was worth wrangling the two sugared-up boys back in their seats for.

Gotta say I'm not surprised in the least at the N.A. weekend totals, and agree wholeheartedly with redeem147 that if the studio cared they'd've advertised it. I was at a 30 screen multiplex and could not find one single DB:E poster up. Having been inundated during the last week with Hannah Montana, Fast & Furious, and Observe & Report television spots, I thought for sure we'd at least see lobby displays for Dragonball ~ no such luck.

I'm also selfishly disappointed that the studio didn't host a N.A. premiere in Hollywood at least ~ if only for the wonderful candids we would've gotten from James walking the red carpet. James' fan-photogs outdid the pros at the PSILY premiere.

thundercat | April 13, 06:15 CET

I went and saw it tonight. I enjoyed it. It was fun, though a bit short. On the plus side I wasn't bored for a second unlike many other movies I've seen lately, on the minus side it did feel like some information was left out.
Definitely needed more Piccolo. He was the best part.
I agree that I totally heard James voice more than I did in the trailer, and I especially recognized his way of moving. That strut!
All around, all the young teen boys and I in the theatre had a blast.

[ edited by Xane on 2009-04-13 06:17 ]

Xane | April 13, 06:16 CET

There's absolutely no ads for Dragonball anywhere. Not just that there aren't any, say, posters at bus stops, but the L.A. Times Calendar section for opening day had absolutely no ad for the movie anywhere, and I gather it was the same at other papers, and many didn't even list it under "Opening this week" because FOX didn't notify them that the film was playing! How on earth do they expect Dragonball to get any box office in the US if they don't let anyone know it exists? They seem to have written it off entirely in the United States and Canada, so any money it does get is a miracle.

deanna b | April 13, 08:14 CET

Yeah I agree that it was advertised terribly. I’ve seen one advert for it on the telly here in Australia and they made it look god awful. I was a big fan back in the day and whilst I realised they changed it quite a bit, nothing in the advert even resembled Dragon Ball to me. The advert gave no hint to the story of the film, it just was some quick cuts of “funny” bits in the film and that was that. Not even a glimpse of Piccolo who's the villain of the movie. Seeing as how it already diverts a lot from the original story they should at least advertise it in anyway they can to make it feel familiar to old fans of the series.

I don't have a lot of interest in seeing it. My friend saw it and said he was surprised that he actually enjoyed it though.

vampmogs | April 13, 08:35 CET

Planning to see the movie soon and appreciate the lack of spoilers in the discussion. =)

I read his interview that's posted elsewhere on here. I love how humble James is, and how appreciative he is of us, his fan base. I'm glad he realizes that he has a lot of fans behind him 110%, following his career, supporting him and loving his work. It sounds like he really 'owns' that responsibility. His interview answers are always so wonderfully verbose and informative.

trainerr | April 13, 11:21 CET

My 13 year old son is a fan and has had to resort to asking HIS MOTHER when Dragonball was opening! As others have said, there has been no advertising at all. If it weren't for Whedonesque, we would know nothing about it.

My son's vacation ends today, maybe I'll take him to see it as a surprise.

newcj | April 13, 13:54 CET

Solid kids movie, i took my little nephew and niece to see it, they both loved it.
I wouldn't worry too much about the movie bombing, it's almost made all it's money back. And dvd-sales will probaly put them over the top. I'm still hoping for a director's cut of the movie, a lot seems to have been cut from the final version.

Vergil | April 13, 15:15 CET

April 12 2009