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Creator Takehiko Inoue Talks About The First Slam Dunk and a Potential Sequel

The First Slam Dunk film's director and original Slam Dunk manga author, Takehiko Inoue, attended the “COURT SIDE in THEATER FINAL” talk event on August 15. He spoke a bit about his time working on the film, the effort he put into its creation, and the possibility of a sequel.

The 56-year-old director said, "If I said there will be [a sequel] or said there won't be one, wouldn't that statement tie me down? Like if I say there will be one, and there isn't, that'd be bad. And if I said there won't be one, then even if I feel like drawing one, I won't be able to. So I'm not going to say anything right now.”

Inoue elaborated on the process of making the hit film and how he worked earnestly to complete it.

"Before the film's release, I just wanted to finish it. I just wanted to do everything I could to make the film even a little better. The staff was also full of people doing their best,” Inoue said.

The film marked Inoue's debut as a director. Film and music producer Ryūta Koike told Anime News Network that the staff had a mantra of surpassing the original, in part because Inoue was the series' original creator. However, to Inoue, actually making the film was only half the story.

"Even though the movie was completed, a film has no value unless the audience sees it. A film is truly complete when the audience sees it—when it has been conveyed to each and every one of them. The same is true for manga. So I hope that happened,” he said.

Audiences turned out in droves to see the film in theaters in Japan. The film opened in on December 3, and ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 847,000 tickets and earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about US$9.50 million) over its opening weekend. As of July 23, the film had sold a cumulative total of 10.33 million tickets to earn 14,900,403,870 yen (about US$105.3 million). The film is now the 14th highest-earning film of all time in Japan, and is also now the eighth highest-earning anime film in Japan.

The film won Animation of the Year at the 46th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes. Toshiyuki Matsui, the film's producer, received this year's general award for Eiga Engeki Bunka Kyōkai's (Film Theater Culture Association) 42nd annual Fujimoto Awards.

GKIDS released the film in the United States and Canada with both an English dub and with Japanese audio and English subtitles on July 28. The film earned US$662,211 in its first weekend in North America. The film has a worldwide cumulative earning of US$152,355,179 as of Sunday.

The film will end its run in Japanese theaters on August 31.

Source: Cinema Today