The first Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle movie has earned 5,524,298,500 yen (~US$37,400,711.88) and a crowd of 3,843,613 in its opening weekend.
That puts its performance over its predecessor, Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – the Movie: Mugen Train, which impressed in 2020 with its 4.6 billion yen opening gross and initial 3,42 million moviegoer count. Back then, Nikkei noted that this was a historical high for movies that opened on a regular weekday.
When including Monday (which was the public holiday Marine Day) into the calculations, Infinity Castle earned more than 7.3 billion yen (~US$49.4 million) and drew in over 5.16 million moviegoers. A little more and it will join the ranks of the top 100 highest-grossing films in Japan (currently at 100th is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with 7.34 billion yen).
Unsurprisingly, Infinity Castle also sits at the top of the July 18-20 JST weekend box office ranking (which is based on moviegoer count).
Infinity Castle (or Gekijoban “Kimetsu no Yaiba” Mugenjou-hen Daiisshou Akaza Sairai) will have two follow-ups, with the trilogy adapting the final arc of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba story. This sees the Demon Slayer Corps having their final showdown with Muzan’s demons in the titular Infinity Castle.
International screenings will start in August. For North America, the start date is September 12.
The original Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga by Koyoharu Gotouge ran from 2016 to 2020 in Weekly Shonen Jump. Viz Media describes the premise as:
Learning to destroy demons won’t be easy, and Tanjiro barely knows where to start. The surprise appearance of another boy named Giyu, who seems to know what’s going on, might provide some answers—but only if Tanjiro can stop Giyu from killing his sister first!
The anime began in 2019 with the first TV anime season, which was followed by Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, a TV broadcast version of Mugen Train, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc.
Staff (returning)
• Director: Haruo Sotozaki
• Character designer and chief animation director: Akira Matsushima
• Color designer: Yuko Omae
• Background art director: Masaru Yanaka (reprising from Mugen Train and Hashira Training Arc)
• Background art director: Yuri Kabazawa (reprising from Mugen Train and Hashira Training Arc)
• Background art supervisor: Koji Eto (since Hashira Training Arc)
• Compositing director: Yuichi Terao
• Script production and animation production: ufotable
Cast
• Natsuki Hanae as Tanjiro Kamado
• Akari Kito as Nezuko Kamado
• Hiro Shimono as Zenitsu Agatsuma
• Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Inosuke Hashibira
Source: @kimetsu_off
