THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Anime Film Travels Past Your Name to Be the Top Japanese Movie in South Korea of All Time

 

While it has been no secret that THE FIRST SLAM DUNK anime film has by far exceeded expectations in its home country of Japan, becoming the 12th highest-grossing anime film of all time as of last Sunday, just over the sea in South Korea, the latest flick in the Slam Dunk franchise has scored a record-breaking box office taking not just for an anime film, but a Japanese film in general.

 

Korean box office tracker KOBIS revealed on March 5 that THE FIRST SLAM DUNK has scored 3,818,000 ticket sales in the country, more than the previous Japanese film record holder Your Name. which sold 3,802,000 over its 2017 run. THE FIRST SLAM DUNK opened in South Korea on January 4 and broke the record in 61 days. 

 

The film has been crossing generational lines, with the highest percentage of viewers being in their 30’s at 34% of attendees, followed by people in their 40’s at 27% and then people in their 20’s at 26%. The gender split in Korea was also close to half, with 55.2% of all tickets being sold to males and the rest being females.

 

Due to the impact of the film, original sales of the manga series have been hitting the online book sales charts with reportedly 1 million copies of the series sold in just the last week. 

 

 

RELATED: THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Scores a Six-Pointer to Move Up to 31st at All-Time Japanese Box Office

 

The original Slam Dunk TV anime aired from 1993 to 1996, with four anime films being spun off from the original anime. You can catch an on-demand replay of the TV anime right here on Crunchyroll, which describes the series as such:

 

Hanamichi Sakuragi, an entering freshman at Shohoku High, holds a record for being rejected by 50 girls during middle school. Ever since the last girl turned him down for a guy on the basketball team, Sakuragi’s been traumatized by the sport.

 

THE FIRST SLAM DUNK opened in Japan on December 3 in regular and IMAX theaters and expanded to Dolby Cinema screens on December 10.

 

Sources: TV Asahi, Korea JoongAng Daily

 

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.