‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ slashes 26-year box office record and tops weekend box office

By Auzinea Bacon, CNN

(CNN) — “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 $70 million.

“Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” which is distributed in North America by Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Crunchyroll, raked in $33 million on Friday alone, surging past Warner Bros. Pictures’ 1999 anime hit “Pokémon: The First Movie,” which grossed $31 million in its opening weekend. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

“Infinity Castle” is also the best opening for a “Demon Slayer” movie, after FUNimation Entertainment’s “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” ($21 million) in 2021 and Sony’s “Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training” ($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 $26.1 million, followed by Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” the final installment of the Downton Abbey franchise, which earned $18.1 million.

Lionsgate’s “The Long Walk,” an adaptation of the 1979 Stephen King book, came in fourth with $11.5 million.

This weekend continued a trend of movies that court audiences of all ages and various genres, although horror has been a highlight leading into the fall season.

Dergarabedian said the “well-curated” slate of movies this month could lead to strong ticket sales in the coming weeks, with Universal Pictures’ and Jordan Peele’s “Him” opening next weekend and expected to boost mid-September sales.

The busy box office is a good sign for theaters, which are coming off a lackluster end to the summer season.

“For many years, we would see strong Augusts and slow Septembers. It’s reversed this year in a lot of ways. That kind of feeds into the theory that there’s always an ebb and flow,” Robbins said.

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