Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle opens to US$70m, biggest anime debut in North America

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Infinity Castle carved out a place in North American box office history this weekend as the Japanese anime film sliced straight to No 1 – outpacing the horror sequel The Conjuring: Last Rites.

The Sony-owned Crunchyroll release shattered expectations with a mighty US$70 million (S$89.8 million) debut in North America, according to Sunday (Sep 14) estimates from Comscore. That haul marks the biggest domestic opening ever for an anime film, surpassing Pokemon: The First Movie, which opened with US$31 million in 1999.

The film extended its meteoric run, scoring the biggest anime opening of all time with a US$132.1 million weekend, according to Comscore. Crunchyroll and Sony rolled it out across North America and 49 international markets, pushing the global total to US$177.8 million.

“This performance by this particular film shows the unpredictability of the box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “If we were sitting here, let’s say a month or even a couple of weeks ago, would we be thinking, ‘Wow, a Japanese anime film would be number one at the box office, overperform and bring in US$70 million?’ If you predicted that, kudos to you.”

The latest movie is the first in a three-film trilogy that brings the hit Shonen saga to its climactic showdown. The story follows Tanjiro Kamado, a kind-hearted boy who takes up swordsmanship after his family is slaughtered and his sister, Nezuko, is turned into a demon. Together, they fight a supernatural underworld of monstrous foes while clinging to what’s left of their humanity.

The Infinity Castle opener hails from renowned studio Ufotable, whose lavish visuals and breakneck fight sequences have helped make the franchise a global sensation and juggernaut.

The film’s domination also points to a September rebound after a sluggish August. Warner Bros' The Conjuring: Last Rites, which opened to US$83 million last weekend, slipped to second with US$26 million.

The horror sequel has now scared up US$131 million domestically.

“This shows that two months of down trending box office can be totally reversed over the course of a couple of weekends,” Dergarabedian said.

Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opened in third with US$18.1 million. Set in the 1930s, the film finds Lady Mary embroiled in a public scandal as the Crawleys confront financial strain and the looming threat of social disgrace. While the aristocratic family adapts to change, the household staff prepares for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton into the future.

In fourth place, Lionsgate’s The Long Walk debuted with US$11.5 million. It was directed by Francis Lawrence, the adaptation of Stephen King’s first-written novel is a thriller that asks a chilling question: “How far would you go to survive?”

Pixar’s Toy Story (30th Anniversary) brought Buzz, Woody and the gang back to the big screen, opening in fifth with US$3.5 million across 2,375 theaters. Warner Bros' Weapons followed in sixth with US$2.75 million, while Disney’s filmed musical Hamilton landed seventh with $2.2 million. Freakier Friday claimed eighth with US$2.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10: Spinal Tap II: The End Continues bowed with US$1.6 million, narrowly edging The Sound of Music (60th Anniversary), which sang up US$1.4 million.

Dergarabedian said he expects more September good fortunes with the release of Jordan Peele's horror film Him next week and Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another coming out this month.

“September, after a very modest month of August, is proving to be an absolutely fantastic post-summer month for movies and for audiences and for movie theaters,” he said.