Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Breaks Japanese Box-Office Records
For the longest time, Japanese box-office records were dominated by one film. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away opened in 2001 and shot to the top of Japan's all-time box-office charts. And there it stayed for many a year, fending off competition from the likes of Howl's Moving Castle and Your Name. It stayed that way until late 2020 when Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba: Mugen Train (Infinity Train), the first original feature spin-off of the Demon Slayer TV series, was released. The film crushed all expectations (all during a pandemic too) and began breaking all records. Eventually, it even surpassed Spirited Away's total, to become Japan's new all time champ. It also became one of the top grossing films worldwide that year, although worldwide figures were severely impacted by COVID-19.
In the years since, several Demon Slayer compilation films and theatrical events have been released. But now, five years later Mugen Train is getting a proper sequel- in fact it's getting three. Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba: Infinity Castle: Akaza Sairai, is the first part of the Infinity Castle trilogy, that will bring the Demon Slayer series to a close. The first film was released in Japan last weekend.
And it looks like it could be on course to follow in its predecessors' footsteps. The new film had a blockbusting opening weekend, selling 3,843,613 tickets for 5,524,298,500 yen (about US$37.45 million) over its first three days. Counting the film's take for the holiday Monday, the film sold 5,164,348 million tickets and raked in 7,315,846,800 yen (about US$49.60 million).
Infinity Castle has already surpassed Mugen Train's records for all-time best opening weekend box-office, best opening day box-office and best single day box-office. What other records will it break? Could it even make it to the all-time box-office number one. We wouldn't bet against it.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - Akaza Sairai is playing on 443 screens across Japan, including IMAX locations. This is a record for the franchise. Aniplex aims to screen the film in over 150 countries and territories. Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will screen the film in countries including the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom and Ireland this September, both with subtitles and a new English dub.
The film is directed by Haruo Sotozaki and is produced by ufotable.
Demon Slayer is adapted from the manga created by Koyoharu Gotouge. The first season of the anime aired in 2019. It was followed by the Mugen Train feature, as well as a seven-episode arc of the TV series that adapted the Mugen Train arc. This was then followed by The Entertainment District Arc, Swordsmith Village Arc and finally Yaiba Hashira Training Arc, which aired in 2024.
Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba is available to stream on Crunchyroll, and the original manga is available in print and digital from Viz Media.
