Idris Elba and Beast were defeated by Piccolo and Dragon Ball at the weekend box office.

Evidently, Idris Elba wasn’t prepared for the Special Beam Cannon.

 

Anime fans love to debate hypothetical “who would win in a fight?” confrontations involving Dragon Ball characters (Goku vs. Superman, Vegeta vs. Harry Potter, Krillin vs. any average person, and now we’ve got another proven victory for the record books: Goku vs. Superman.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the latest instalment in the Dragon Ball saga, nearly twice the weekend box office take of Idris Elba’s Beast. Both films made their debuts (at least in the United States), with Super Hero grossing $20 million and Beast grossing $11 million.

To be clear, neither movie performed spectacularly, but Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’s success—and the success of other anime films receiving limited theatrical runs these days—indicates a shift in the domestic box office and a greater appetite for things that might have been deemed “too niche” or whatever prior to the pandemic.

The rest of the top ten (actually, the rest of the top eleven) are in the same order as last week, with all ten films grossing over a million dollars and therefore performing… okay. (In general, things are still down from earlier this summer.)

Top Gun: Maverick appears to have permanently slowed down, with a cumulative gross of $683 million after 13 weeks, implying that it would likely fall short of breaking $700 million and supplanting Black Panther on the list of all-time top grossers. But, hey, sixth place is a nice place to be! It grossed more than three Avengers films and ten Star Wars films combined (counting Rogue One and Solo).

 

Orphan: First Kill, the only high-profile newbie not starring Idris Elba or Piccolo, debuted in 12th position with $1.6 million. Because it only opened in 500 or so theatres, movie should fare better next week, if people are still interested in witnessing an adult lady who looks like a child commit murders.