Global hit franchise Demon Slayer is making a bid to recapture the anime box office crown, as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (Crunchyroll/Sony) battles into the weekend box-office with $11.4 million from Tuesday and Thursday night previews — a new record for anime movie releases in North America. This handily outpaces the previous preview record holder, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022), which powered up with a $4.3M preview night for its $21.1M opening weekend.
Infinity Castle is well equipped for its debut weekend, going into the box-office fray with stellar Rotten Tomatoes numbers — 96% Fresh from critics and 99% Hot from moviegoers, with over a thousand audience ratings — and strong social media buzz. Ahead of the release, the pic became Fandango’s best first-day ticket pre-seller for an anime film of all time.
In Japan, Infinity Castle has maintained the No. 1 spot at the box office for eight frames since its release. As of September 7, the supernatural actioner had racked up 31.4 billion yen ($213.3M USD) from more than 22 million admissions after 52 days in theaters. The previous Demon Slayer movie, Mugen Train, reached the 30 billion yen mark in it ninth weekend.
The film is screening in theaters across North America, including IMAX and other large format screens.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, the first feature film in the three-part cinematic trilogy representing the final battle of the hugely popular, award-winning shonen series from animation studio ufotable. Based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotoge (Shueisha’s Weekly Jump), the latest Demon Slayer theatrical showdown is directed by franchise veteran Haruo Sotozaki.
[Source: Deadline]
