Despite early concerns that it could instantly end up as Netflix’s latest axed one-season wonder, One Piece has set sail to solidifying its potential as a returning favorite by scoring a record-breaking opening weekend.
Having seized hold of the number one spot in 84 countries around the world, the eight-episode epic has reached the top of the charts in more nations than the first seasons of either Stranger Things and Wednesday managed, an encouraging comparison considering those two are also effects-heavy and extremely expensive fantastical originals.
However, it must be particularly sweet for Roronoa Zoro actor Mackenyu, who mere months ago took top billing in a blockbuster that coincidentally happened to be the live-action adaptation of a popular manga, just to watch it crash and burn in front of his very eyes.
Knights of the Zodiac was only released in domestic theaters this past June, but it’s okay if you forgot considering it was a flop on a catastrophic scale. In addition to getting bludgeoned by a woeful 22 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it didn’t even manage to pass $7 million in ticket sales against a budget of $60 million, ensuring it could end up going down as the biggest commercial disaster of 2023 that a lot of people have never heard of.
As the son of the legendary Sonny Chiba, Mackenyu was always destined to end up trying his hand at becoming an ass-kicking action hero, but it would be the understatement of his career and then some to say that One Piece is making a much better fist of it than Knights of the Zodiac.
