Pokémon: The First Movie Loses 26-Year-Old Box Office Record

Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, the very first feature-length animated movie in the Pokémon franchise, has been surpassed at the box office 26 years after its release.

Japanese sales-ranking website Oricon has reported that for the first time in 26 years, Pokémon: The First Movie has fallen out of the Top 100 Grossing Movies of All Time. For over two decades, the first anime Pokémon movie sat comfortably in the top 100 with over 7.24 billion yen earned. However, this financial record has now been surpassed by Haikyuu!! Battle of the Garbage Dump, bumping the former out of the top 100 rankings altogether.

Haikyuu!! Battle of the Garbage Dump Makes Box Office History, Dethroning Pokémon

Released in Japan on Feb. 16, Haikyuu!! Battle of the Garbage Dump earned over 890 million yen on opening day. According to Box Office Mojo, Battle of the Garbage Dump has grossed over $47 million since its theatrical release. The movie serves as a two-part theatrical adaptation of the final chapters of the Haikyuu!! manga by Haruichi Furudate. Currently, there is no tentative release date for the second Haikyuu!! anime movie, but Battle of the Garbage Dump provides the perfect setup for the animated conclusion.

Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back Was a Critical Flop But a Box Office Success

While there is no shortage of animated Pokémon movies, Mewtwo Strikes Back was the first of its kind and premiered in 1998, during the height of the Pokémon phenomenon. While North American critics panned the film, Mewtwo Strikes Back was a major box office success, earning $10 million on its opening day. The film was previously the only anime film to reach the top 10 box office in the U.S. until the 2021 release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train. A CG-animated remake, Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution, was released in 2019 and is currently available to stream on Netflix.