Why One Piece Film: Red is the most successful film in the franchise

One Piece Film: Red was recently announced as having grossed 15 billion yen in Japan's box offices as of Tuesday, September 20. That day marked the film's 46th day at the Japanese box offices, highlighting how impressive the film's meteoric rise to box office dominance has been.

One Piece Film: Red also remained at the top of Japanese box offices for the seventh consecutive weekend, surpassing Weathering With You as the #7 all-time highest-grossing anime film in Japan. This put the film at the #13 spot on the list of general all-time highest-earning films in Japan.

While the movie’s success is apparent, fans are curious as to why this particular franchise film has been so much more successful than others. Follow along as this article fully breaks down exactly why One Piece Film: Red is the franchise’s most successful film yet.

Shanks-centric marketing, new antagonist, and more make One Piece FIlm: Red franchise's most successful film yet

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Without a doubt, one of the chief reasons why One Piece Film: Red is so successful is because of how Shanks-centric the film’s marketing and plot are. With Shanks being a massive fan-favorite character, it instantly captured the attention of fans everywhere, sparking their natural curiosity about the movie and interest in seeing it.

The movie’s announcement coming alongside the release of One Piece Episode 1000 also created further intrigue and excitement around the film. The announcement had been teased for months prior to the episode's release, adding to the film's allure and generating additional discussion.

Going back to Shanks, his being at the core of the movie was a major motivator for fans to see the film. Although the film’s events are not canon, Uta's existence as Shanks’ daughter was recently canonized by series author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda. There’s also a scene in the film which shows Shanks’ origins that Oda also confirmed as canon.

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Uta serves as the film's central antagonist who pits herself against former childhood friend Luffy in order to achieve her own personal dreams and goals. Her trauma of being separated from Shanks at a young age (for her betterment, nevertheless) serves as a central motivation for her actions in the film.

Uta also marks a shift in the way the films in the franchise have handled their antagonistic characters. Traditionally, the villain of a One Piece movie has been a male figure, usually of senior age or close to it, who also happens to be diametrically opposed to the Straw Hats’ ideals. These villains were typically introduced as legendary pirates from Roger’s era.

Uta, however, is the franchise’s first female main villain and is also the first villain overall in the franchise’s films to have had any prior association with any of the Straw Hats. This exceptional way in which One Piece Film: Red distinguishes itself certainly helped to persuade moviegoers to give the film a try.

Finally, the use of the Wano arc animation approach in the film's production process was a key factor in attracting audiences to the theaters. One of the biggest compliments the Wano arc, especially the Onigashima Raid portion, receives from fans is its movie-like quality on a weekly TV anime budget.

With this in mind, it makes perfect sense for fans to want to see what the series’ team could do with a legitimate, full-scale film budget. Needless to say, the team behind One Piece Film: Red did not disappoint in this aspect or many others.

Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as the year of the series’ 25th anniversary progresses.