‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ Hits No. 1 as Anime Film Slices Through Box Office With Record $70M Debut

‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle‘ made history this weekend, becoming the highest-grossing anime debut at the North American box office, The Associated Press reported Sunday. The film pulled in a whopping $70 million, overtaking ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites‘ and landing straight at No. 1 spot, according to Comscore estimates.

The Sony-owned Crunchyroll release, the report said, shattered expectations by dethroning the long-standing record held by 1999 ‘Pokemon: The First Movie’, which had opened to $31 million at the time.

Global Domination and Franchise Finale

Directed by Ufotable, the movie has also appears to have made waves at an international level, raking in $132.1 million from across 49 global markets, for a combined total of $177.8 million, as reported by AP. It’s the first in a three-part finale that brings the popular Shonen anime saga to a climactic end.

About The Movie Plot

The story continues the journey of Tanjiro Kamado, a kind-hearted swordsman fighting demons alongside his sister Nezuko, who was turned into one. Their battle to preserve their humanity has seemingly captivated global audiences.

Box Office Analyst: ‘Unpredictable’

“This performance by this particular film shows the unpredictability of the box office,” AP quoted Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore, as saying. “If we were sitting here, let’s say a month or even a couple of weeks ago, would we be thinking, ‘Wow, a Japanese anime film would be number one at the box office, overperform and bring in $70 million?’ If you predicted that, kudos to you.”

Top 10: A Mixed Bag of Genres

The second place has been secured by ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’, which reportedly added $26 million to its domestic total of $131 million. Third in place, per the latest ComScore ratings, was ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’, which debuted at an estimated $18.1 million.

Other notable openings include:

• The Long Walk (Lionsgate) – $11.5 million
• Toy Story (30th Anniversary)‘ – $3.5 million
• Weapons – $2.75 million
• Hamilton (Disney) – $2.2 million
• Freakier Friday – $2.1 million
• Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – $1.6 million
• The Sound of Music (60th Anniversary) – $1.4 million

Strong September Rebound

After a notably slow August, the success of ‘Demon Slayer‘ and ‘Last Rites‘ is pointing to an apparent box office rebound.

“This shows that two months of down trending box office can be totally reversed over the course of a couple of weekends,“ Dergarabedian said, per AP.

He added that upcoming releases like Jordan Peele‘s ‘HIM‘ and Paul Thomas Anderson‘s ‘One Battle After Another‘ could continue the momentum.

“September… is proving to be an absolutely fantastic post-summer month for movies and for audiences and for movie theaters, the ComScore analyst added.