That impressive result for the film from Crunchyroll, which called it the best global opening ever for an anime movie, proved a bright spot in a tepid August, easily outshining the $11.6 million take of another new release, Universal's Beast.

"This is another outstanding Crunchyroll anime opening," said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. He said Crunchyroll, 95 percent owned by Sony, now "dominates the genre”.

Gross rated Beast, meantime, as having only a "fair opening" for the period from Friday through Sunday, at least "for an action adventure film featuring a beast”.

The beast, in this case, is a huge rogue lion that pursues a recently widowed man (Idris Elba) and his daughters when they go on safari. Iceland's Baltasar Kormakur directs.

Sony's action-thriller Bullet Train slid to third at $8 million. The film, in which Brad Pitt plays a paid assassin on a train seemingly loaded with them, topped the box office the last two weekends.

In fourth was the still high-flying Top Gun: Maverick. The Tom Cruise vehicle took in a substantial $5.9 million in its 13^th week out, pulling in $683 million domestically and $703 million overseas.

And in fifth, down three spots from last weekend, was Warner Bros.'s animation DC League of Super-Pets at $5.8 million.

August is always slow at the box office, "but with no big releases during the last two weeks, business has dropped more than normal, to roughly 40 percent below August 2019,” Gross said, "and that's how it will continue until October.”

Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:

Thor: Love and Thunder ($4 million)

Nope ($3.6 million)

Minions: The Rise of Gru ($3.5 million)

Where the Crawdads Sing ($3.2 million)

Bodies Bodies Bodies ($2.4 million).

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