“If I say there will be [phần tiếp theo] or say there won’t be a sequel, won’t that tie me up?”
© 2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Film Partners
First Slam Dunk film director and original Slam Dunk manga author, Takehiko Inoue, attended the “COURT SIDE in THEATER FINAL” talk event on August 15. He talked a little bit about the time it took to make the series. film, the efforts he put into its creation, and the possibility of a sequel.
The 56-year-old director said: “If I say there will be [phần tiếp theo] or say there won’t be a sequel, wouldn’t that sentence bind me? Like if I said there would be a sequel, and there isn’t, that sucks. And if I say there won’t be, then even if I wanted to draw one, I wouldn’t be able to. So I won’t say anything right? right now.”
Inoue details the process of making the hit movie and how he worked diligently to complete it.
“Before the movie came out, I just wanted to finish it. I just wanted to do everything I could to make the movie a little better. The staff also have a lot of people doing their best,” said Inoue.
The film marks Inoue’s debut as a director. Film and music producer Ryūta Koike told Anime News Network that the staff have a spell that surpasses the original, in part because Inoue was the original author of the series. However, for Inoue, making the film is only half the story.
“Even though the movie is finished, a movie has no value unless the audience sees it. A movie is truly complete when the audience sees it—when it is delivered to each and every one of them. The same is true of manga. So I hope that happened,” he said.
Audiences flocked to see the film in theaters in Japan. The film opened on December 3 and debuted at number 1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 847,000 tickets and earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about $9.50 million) in its opening weekend. As of July 23, the film has sold a cumulative total of 10.33 million tickets to earn 14,900,403,870 yen (about US$105.3 million). The film is currently the 14th highest-grossing film of all time in Japan and is currently also the eighth highest-earning animated film in Japan.
The film won Animation of the Year award at the 46th Annual Japan Academy Film Awards. Toshiyuki Matsui, the film’s producer, received this year’s joint award for the annual Fujimoto Awards. 42nd of the Eiga Engeki Bunka Kyōkai (Society of Theater and Cinema).
GKIDS released the film in the United States and Canada with both English dub, Japanese, and English subtitles on July 28. The film earned $662,211 in its opening weekend in North America. The film has cumulative worldwide earnings of $152,355,179 as of Sunday.
The film will end in Japanese theaters on August 31.
Source: Cinema Today