My Hero Academia: You’re Next

Source: 2024 My Hero Academia The Movie Project / K. Horikoshi/Shueisha

‘My Hero Academia: You’re Next’

My Hero Academia: You’re Next, the fourth film based in the popular manga and anime franchise, has become the 10th highest grossing film of 2024 to date at the Japanese box office after just three weekends on release.

The film, which is distributed by Toho and animated by Studio Bones, has earned $16.25m (¥2.38bn) and sold 1.65 million tickets since opening in Japanese cinemas on August 2.

It has overtaken films stronger performers such as anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training, which has taken $15.5m (¥2.31bn) since opening on February 2; Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which was finally released in Japan on March 29 and has made $12.3m (¥1.8bn); and sports anime Blue Lock: Episode Nagi, which has reached $12.3m (¥1.8bn) since opening on April 19.

Animated imports that have broken into Japan’s top 10 for the year are Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2, earning a cumulative $25.3m (¥3.7bn) and $20.5m (¥3bn) respectively.

As of August 18, the year’s top three films at the Japan box office are Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram ($94.4m/¥15.19bn), Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle ($69.3m/¥11.16bn) and Kingdom: Return of the Great General ($46.56m/¥6.8bn), the fourth in a series of live-action films adapting the manga Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara. All three films are distributed by Toho.

Strong opening

My Hero Academia: You’re Next opened in the top spot on its opening weekend August 2-4, earning $6.28m (¥895m) in its first three days, followed by Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which opened on August 1 and took $3.67m (¥536m).

The film dropped to third on its second and third weekends behind Inside Out 2, which rose to first, and Crayon Shin-chan: Our Dinosaur Diary.

My Hero Academia: You’re Next will be released in the US on October 11 by Toho International, whose first US release was Godzilla Minus One in 2023..

The story continues to follow high school student and aspiring superhero Izuku Midoriya in a Japan that has fallen into chaos following war and centres on the appearance of a destructive giant fortress. The film is directed by Tensai Okamura from a script by Yosuke Kuroda.

My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission, the third film in the franchise, earned ¥3.43bn ($23.48m) over the course of its domestic theatrical run in 2021. It earned $47m worldwide, of which $12.3m came from the US and $300,000 from the UK. It was distributed in North America by Sony-owned Funimation and in the UK by Columbia Pictures.

The My Hero Academia manga is written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. It debuted in the pages of popular manga magazine Shonen Jump in 2014 and wrapped its 10-year run on August 5. Aside from theatrical films, the manga has also been adapted into an anime series, which began its seventh season in May.