Through its first three days in U.S. theaters, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is blowing past expectations. The film sequel earned $33 million on Friday and opened to an impressive $70 million opening weekend domestically, obliterating the record for an anime film set by Pokémon: The First Movie nearly 30 years ago.
It’s also the biggest opening for a film distributed by Sony since Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse more than two years ago. The film was initially projected to earn between $35-50 million domestically, which would have still been enough to shatter the record.
A $70 million domestic opening might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it is. Only 9 movies in 2025 had such an opening. In comparison, there have been 10 weekends in 2025 where the top 10 movies have combined to gross less than $70 million.
The previous feature-length Demon Slayer film, Mugen Train, earned $22 million during its domestic opening weekend. Recent anime films from popular franchises, including My Hero Academia: You’re Next and Spy X Family Code: White, have earned less than $10 million in their domestic openings.
The film has already opened in Japan back in July and is approaching $400 million worldwide. It’s currently the fourth-highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, within striking distance of both Spirited Away and Your Name. Once the film’s theatrical release concludes, the film will make its way to Crunchyroll for streaming.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
