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As a super popular hot-blooded anime IP that has been popular all over the world for decades, the line "Next is the national competition" in the animation 21 years ago made youth stop. It was not until 2023 that the movie "Slam Dunk" brought the game between Xiangbei and Sannoh to the big screen. While countless Slam Dunk fans finally realized their dreams, a new batch of post-00 audiences also "fell into the pit" of this classic anime.

The film grossed over 600 million yuan at the box office after its release in April last year, and its release was extended to August due to repeated fan bookings.

Movie poster of Slam Dunk

On August 3, the Japanese animated film "Slam Dunk" was released again. For fans, this date is full of emotions. This day is the day when the Xiangbei and Sanwang teams compete in the film, and the first show of the re-screening day is scheduled to start at 11:30, which also coincides with the official start time of the game.

On the first day of the re-screening, the official also held a special film viewing event "National Competition Carnival Night" in Shanghai for thousands of people. The response on site was enthusiastic. The singer of the theme song "The Zeroth Sense" 10-FFET band brought a surprise post-screening interaction, which filled the atmosphere of the whole venue.

"National Competition Carnival Night" special movie viewing event for thousands of people

During the release of the movie "Slam Dunk" last year, Shanghai Cinema SHO was the first choice for fans to book a private screening. This year's re-screening, the "National Competition Carnival Night" special viewing event for thousands of people, once again turned the cinema into a large "support site". The outside layout was full of various "Slam Dunk" elements, attracting many fans to take photos and check in. Many audiences dressed up as their favorite characters, or also embellished their bodies with "Slam Dunk" elements.

In the theater with thousands of people, most of the audience had already watched this game many times, but the response was still enthusiastic. Xiangbei and Sanwang each have their own supporters, and each player has his own loyal fans. During the game, as the camera switched between the players, screams could be heard from different directions in the theater. Fans cheered for every goal and sighed for every goal lost. The passionate atmosphere was like being on the court. Especially when the camera cut to the cheerleaders in the audience cheering, the cheers from the audience and the movie echoed each other inside and outside the screen, and the dimensional wall seemed to be completely broken at that moment.

Audiences supporting different camps cheered

The film continues the narrative tradition of animation, with intense live matches and characters' memories and growth segments interlaced. When the film enters the players' past memories, the atmosphere returns to a quiet immersive viewing experience. The switching between dynamic and static modes is seamless, and the audience can fully empathize and interact with the characters along with the plot of the film.

Such "support" has become a very important way to open this movie since its release last year. The key to the film was rarely postponed three times, and the main demand in the later period came from fans' private theater support. The fan culture of the two-dimensional audience has collided with the theater as a place to create wonderful sparks. The screening of the movie is connected to the fans' spontaneous cosplay, peripheral exhibitions and even theme live, turning almost every event into a small comic exhibition for the exchange of fan peripherals. Thematic activities such as "Sakuragi Hanamichi Special", "Mitsui Shou Special", and "Ryukawa Kaede Interview" have subdivided the same movie into different viewing experiences. On social platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu, the posts of "shaking people" in the support field have spread from first-tier cities to third- and fourth-tier cities, bringing together like-minded people, which not only meets the unique viewing needs of the two-dimensional world, but also does not affect the viewing experience of ordinary audiences. Finding a private theater has also become a preferred way of watching movies for many Slam Dunk fans.

Immersive viewing experience

Driven by Slam Dunk, sports-themed animated films such as Haikyuu!: The Battle of the Garbage Dump and Blue Zone: Nagi have also copied this model this year. The clever combination of two-dimensional culture and offline movie-watching activities has also allowed theaters and film distributors to see new business opportunities. According to statistics, last year, on the day of each "Thousands of People Slam Dunk", the sales volume of merchants at Shanghai Cinema SHO increased by at least 50% year-on-year.

After the film screening of the "Thousands of People Carnival Night" on August 3, as the ending song sounded, the fans of the popular players waved their cheering flags, creating a great atmosphere. Afterwards, the theme song singer 10-FEET had a surprise post-screening interaction. They answered all the questions related to the movie and shared the behind-the-scenes story of creating this song.

The theme song singer 10-FEET appeared at the post-screening interaction

According to the band members, when they were creating the theme song for the movie, the original author Takehiko Inoue was not satisfied with the 20 songs they submitted at first. The now popular "Zero Sense" was a "time-killing demo" prepared for Mr. Inoue during the gap when the band was planning to rewrite songs. The inspiration came from the heroic and hard-working figure of Rukawa Kaede dribbling the ball in the rough cut. At that time, the band members named this demo "Rukawa's Activeness". Unexpectedly, the pleasant melody was chosen by Takehiko Inoue, and after re-editing and arranging, it became an important theme song in the film.

At the scene, fans and 10-FEET sang the inspiring melody of "The Zeroth Sense" together. The atmosphere on the scene became more and more excited. The band also announced that they will hold their concert in Shanghai.