{"id":7838351,"date":"2025-09-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7838351"},"modified":"2025-09-10T14:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T21:04:13","slug":"demon-slayer-infinity-castle-box-office-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/demon-slayer-infinity-castle-box-office-prediction\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Demon Slayer’ Looks to Break Anime Records in the US After Dominating the Asian Box Office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

September was expected to bring a big slowdown for the box office, but the “Dune”-level opening<\/a> of “The Conjuring: Last Rites” has beaten back that bleak forecast, and now more help is coming from Sony\/Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” which after dominating the box office in Asia to the tune of $203 million alone in Japan is set to break U.S. records for an anime film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Sony is projecting a $35 million opening weekend for “Infinity Castle,” independent trackers are projecting a $40 million-plus start for the film, which will have Imax support. That would be enough to make “Infinity Castle” the highest anime opening weekend in American history before inflation adjustment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That record belongs to the 1999 film “Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back,” released at the height of the Nintendo franchise’s cultural popularity and earning a Fri.-Sun. $31 million unadjusted opening as part of a $50 million 5-day launch. Adjusted for inflation, that FSS total equates to $60 million, which might seem like too much to ask of “Infinity Castle.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Daniel Loria, senior vice president of Content Strategy and Editorial Director of Box Office Pro, said that exhibitors who contribute to his site’s box office projections are extremely optimistic about “Infinity Castle,” reporting presales far beyond what they have ever seen for an anime film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while Loria reiterated that a $40 million weekend would qualify as success, those exhibitors tell him they believe it’s possible for “Infinity Castle” to clear $60 million, which would not only surpass previous anime record holder “Mewtwo Strikes Back” after inflation but set up the film to pass the $70 million total run of “28 Years Later” and become Sony’s highest grossing film in a “Spider-Man”-free 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Demon\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\t'Demon Slayer' Shows Anime's Quirky – and Reliable – Strength at the Box Office<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“The fact that such a figure is even on the table shows how big ‘Demon Slayer’ is and just how far anime has grown as a theatrical force,” Loria said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years ago, the last “Demon Slayer” movie, “Mugen Train,” became one of the films that helped theaters get back into business after a year of COVID closures, earning a $21.2 million opening weekend and a $49.5 million overall U.S. total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that pales in comparison to what “Mugen Train” did in the rest of the world, particularly in Japan, where it was released in October 2020 at the height of the pandemic yet grossed 40.7 billion yen, or $386 million. That allowed it to break the record held for 19 years by “Spirited Away” to become Japan’s highest grossing film of all time, and with a global total of $506 million, it stands as the highest grossing anime film ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” cemented the franchise, which first debuted as a manga in 2016 and follows a group of skilled Taish\u014d era warriors tasked with hunting evil demons, as the latest global phenomenon to arise from the action-packed shonen subgenre of anime, joining the likes of “Dragon Ball,” “Naruto” and “One Piece.” It also established anime’s rising grossing power at the global box office, which Sony sought to capitalize on when it acquired anime streaming service Crunchyroll in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n