"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – the Movie Infinity Castle" shattered the record for biggest opening weekend domestic gross for an anime movie, hauling in an estimated US$ 70 million.
"Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle," which is distributed in North America by Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Crunchyroll, raked in US$ 33 million on 12 September alone, surging past Warner Bros. Pictures’ 1999 anime hit "Pokémon: The First Movie," which grossed US$ 31 million in its opening weekend.
"Infinity Castle" is also the best opening for a "Demon Slayer" movie, after FUNimation Entertainment’s "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" (US$ 21 million) in 2021 and Sony’s "Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training" (US$ 11.5 million) in 2024.
"We can easily call this a surprise hit," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, adding that, "to have this one dominate the (domestic box office), I don’t think anyone could see this coming."
Dergarabedian called "Infinity Castle" a "box office juggernaut," noting that it’s the sixth-largest September opening, according to Comscore data. It’s just the fifth anime film to be released domestically in the last three years, according to Box Office Mojo.
But Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of analytics firm Box Office Theory, said the genre has "been building to a performance like this for several years."
"That’s really crescendoing into this blockbuster-level type of box office that kicks off the final trilogy," he said, adding that the genre’s fanbase has continued to grow domestically, especially among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
The No. 2 movie at the box office this weekend was Warner Bros.' "The Conjuring: Last Rites," which earned US$ 26.1 million, followed by Focus Features' "Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale," the final installment of the Downton Abbey franchise, which earned US$ 18.1 million.
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