The First Slam Dunk Takes the Number One Spot at the Japanese Box Office!

Fans were excited to see The First Slam Dunk because it was a continuation of Takehiko Inoue’s original Slam Dunk series. Nevertheless, the film has accomplished something quite unusual for a series that hasn’t seen a new installment in over twenty-five years: it has become a box office success.

On December 3, 2022, in 378 theaters around Japan, “The First Slam Dunk,” an animated feature film based on the Slam Dunk franchise, was released. Having earned $9.5 million (or 1.296 billion JPY) in just its first two days of release, the picture has topped the box office.

Before this, in the 1990s, when both the anime and manga were still active, four anime films were also released. They were released simultaneously other Toei Anime Fair films and as part of the event.

For these reasons, The First Slam Dunk is the very first film to be shown in theaters and the very first to last for more than an hour. The film is over 2 hours long.

Suzume, directed by Makoto Shinkai, topped the charts for three consecutive weekends but ultimately finished in second place. Similar to last week, when it peaked at #2, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Scarlet Bond fell to #4 this week.

In its eighteenth weekend, One Piece: Red, the latest installment in the franchise, slid from the top five to number seven with total earnings of 18.6 billion yen.

With a first-day satisfaction rating of 4.35/5.0, The First Slam Dunk also leads the pack on Filmarks. By the next weekend, expectations have it at between $5 and $6 billion.

The movie was directed and written by the manga’s creator, Takehiko Inoue. The creator’s participation, the franchise’s established popularity, and the state of the art in animation meant that the debut had to be spectacular. See how long it can maintain its current position.

The First Slam Dunk

As the first feature-length installment in the Slam Dunk anime series, The First Slam Dunk is a landmark film in the genre. Takehiko Inoue, author of the Slam Dunk manga series, makes his directorial debut with this film.

High school basketball players’ character development is depicted in this film. Hanamichi Sakurai has had a rough go of it recently, as 50 women have all turned him down. He learns to play basketball after meeting the girl of his dreams, Haruko. From that point on, nothing will be the same.