'Dragonball' Posts Strong Debuts in Asia

We have bloodied the nose of Dragonball Evolution quite a bit over the past few months. In our defense, it really does look entirely too silly to be an actual motion picture. But there's good news to report, and we won't shy away from that, either. The film has already been released in several countries, and Screen Daily indicates that it's doing quite well in eight Asian territories. Debuting in 2000 theaters over the weekend, Dragonball Evolution made about $10 million, which is actually really good in foreign markets. In South Korea and Japan, the film debuted in second place, but it opened on top in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Even better news for the Japanese TV/manga adaptation is that it is responsible for some of Fox's best opening weekends ever in China and Malaysia. Whether or not that good fortune translates to American box office performance is something we won't know for about three weeks, but this should give the film a little more wiggle room internationally. Now it doesn't have to be a dominant film in this country to perform well overall.