This week at CinemaCon, Crunchyroll announced the international release dates for the HAIKYU!! and BLUE LOCK anime films.
More and more anime films have made their way across the world, and plenty of the distribution efforts have come from Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Crunchyroll unveiled at CinemaCon this week their acquisition of the rights to release both the HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle and BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- anime films in North America. Some additional international theatrical release dates have also been announced. Time to mark those calendars on two really popular sports anime series!
HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle is based on the beloved volleyball manga and anime series HAIKYU!!, and this will celebrate the ten amazing years since the series and Hinata hit his first spike on the court. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment have planned for a box office release across North America beginning May 31, 2024. The film will be out in both Japanese with English subtitles as well as dubbed in English.
As of March 29, HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle has earned over 8.5 billion yen (~$57 million USD) since opening in Japan on February 16, making it the highest-grossing movie of the Japanese box office calendar year to date. The series has been applauded for affecting real-life issues. A fun fact: high schools across Japan saw that school volleyball teams/clubs saw a steep decline in sign-ups/participation. So, the TV networks decided to use HAIKYU!! as a means to get teens excited about volleyball and sports again, and it amazingly was proven to work. It also raised interest in volleyball again across the world (it worked on me, too)!
HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle international theatrical release dates:
- May 30: Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland (Italian-speaking), Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru
- May 31: Canada, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
- June 7: Turkey
- June 12: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland (French-speaking)
- June 25: Austria, Germany
- June 27: Switzerland (German-speaking)
As for BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI-, Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment stated this anime film will be out starting on June 28, 2024. International dates have yet to be released. It will also be English subbed and English dubbed. The manga came out in anticipation of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, and the anime was released during the biggest international tournament soccer event. The series was meant to hype up Japan’s national soccer team and find talent for Japan to push to win a World Cup.
Both anime films serve as additional content to the main series. However, where HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle still focuses on the core cast from the show, BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- is taking a different route by focusing on the origin story of fan-favourite character Nagi Seishiro. Be sure to catch up on these awe-inspiring sports anime series on the Crunchyroll website now!
