Dragon Ball Super: Broly has just passed $100 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing film in the Dragon Ball franchise. The movie was released in Japan on December 14th, and hit theaters in North America on January 16th.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the 20th film in the popular anime series, and the first movie released under the Dragon Ball Super brand. Written by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, the movie was announced in December of 2017, and was expected to explore the history of the Saiyans. It was later confirmed that the movie would pit Goku, Vegeta, and Frieza against the Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly. While the movie is Broly's fourth appearance in a feature film, this is the first time Goku's longtime nemesis has appeared in-canon. The same holds true for Gogeta, the fused form of Goku and Vegeta.
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New totals from Box Office Mojo reveal that Dragon Ball Super: Broly has made nearly $102 million at the worldwide box office, including $30 million in the United States and $71 million in foreign markets. The movie dominated at the Japanese box office. Broly is now the third-highest grossing anime film to be released in the United States. Broly also topped the highest-grossing film in its own franchise, Dragon Ball: Evolution, the first and only live-action film in the series.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly's success at the box office is impressive based on a few factors. It's important to note that the animated movie only had a budget of $8.5 million. The last two films, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F both made significantly less but were still considered successful. The two movies grossed $51.2 million and $64.8 million respectively. Broly nearly doubled those numbers. Also, Broly was only released in select theaters in the United States, which limited its audience.
Not only did it do well in theaters, but the film also received a great deal of praise from both fans and critics, who felt that the movie added a new level of depth to the fan-favorite villain by giving him a fresh new backstory.
It's hard to say where Dragon Ball will go from here. With the conclusion of the "Tournament of Power" saga, Dragon Ball Super ended after a 131-episode run. Akira Toriyama has already confirmed that a new Dragon Ball project is in the works. At this point it's not clear if a new TV series is planned, or if another movie is on the horizon. However, the unprecedented success of Broly is an indication that a second Dragon Ball Super movie is a major possibility.
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Source: Box Office Mojo