Japanese anime breaks box office expectations in North America

The Japanese anime Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze’s Story dominated the North American box office this weekend, debuting at No. 1 and surpassing expectations — while the much-anticipated Bruce Springsteen biopic failed to meet them, CE Report quotes ANSA.

Produced by Studio MAPPA and directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, the film adapts Tatsuki Fujimoto’s acclaimed Chainsaw Man manga, a dark fantasy about Denji, an orphaned teenager who is killed by the yakuza and reborn after merging with his pet devil. The movie earned an impressive $17.2 million in its opening weekend.

In second place, horror sequel The Black Phone 2, starring Ethan Hawke, grossed $13 million.

Regretting You – All That I Never Told You, the latest adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel following last year’s It Ends with Us, debuted in third with $12.8 million.

Meanwhile, Springsteen – Deliver Me from Nothing, the biographical drama about the “Boss,” directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeremy Allen White, underperformed with a $7 million debut, landing in fourth place.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’s sci-fi action film Tron: Ares, featuring Jared Leto, which earned $4.7 million over the weekend.