Nothing can stop the (infinity) rise of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, as its hot streak continues into its 31st day at the domestic box office. The highly anticipated film, the first in a planned trilogy set to adapt the titular arc, is now the fourth-highest-grossing release of all time in Japan.
The latest record comes after it set a new all-time opening and retained its No.1 spot for the third consecutive week, bumping it up to 10th place on the all-time box office rankings. It has since risen six spots with a haul of 25.7 billion yen (US$174 million), overtaking the likes of Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name and Disney’s Frozen. Only Titanic, Spirited Away, and the previous Demon Slayer animated outing, Infinity Train, stand in its way, with the chart-topper grossing 23.3 billion (US$233 million at that time) within the same 31-day window.
The current list of earnings is as follows:
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie – Infinity Train (40.75 billion yen / US$276 million)
- Spirited Away (31.68 billion yen / US$214 million)
- Titanic (27.77 billion yen / US$188 million)
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (25.7 billion yen / US$174 million)
- Frozen (25.5 billion yen / US$172 million)
- Your Name (25.17 billion yen / US$170 million)
- One Piece Film: Red (20.34 billion yen / US$137 million)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (20.30 billion yen / US$137 million)
- Princess Mononoke (20.18 billion yen / US$136 million)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (19.6 billion yen / US$132 million)
Judging by its upward trajectory, Infinity Castle will likely outpace Titanic by next weekend, leaving only animated movies on the list. The film is playing on 443 screens, a franchise record, throughout Japan, and broke the previous three-day opening record by Infinity Train over the four-day long weekend of 21 July that includes the Marine Day holiday.
Haruo Sotozaki, who previously helmed Infinity Train, is directing Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle at returning studio ufotable. It picks up after the finale of the fourth anime season, where Muzan Kibutsuji (Toshihiko Seki / Greg Chun) traps Tanjiro Kamado (Natsuki Hanae / Zach Aguliar) and his companions of the Demon Slayer Corps inside his fortress, the Infinity Castle, kicking off a decisive battle between the Demon Slayers and Muzan’s subordinates, the Upper Moons. Aimer and LiSA perform the songs “Taiyō ga Noboranai Sekai” (“A World Where the Sun Never Rises”) and “Zankoku no Yoru ni Kagayake” (“Shine in the Cruel Night”), respectively.
The movie hit the silver screen in Singapore on 14 August and is available in IMAX, as well as both Japanese with English subtitles and in English dub, which saw the recent additions of Channing Tatum (Deadpool and Wolverine) and Rebecca Wang (Blue Eye Samurai) as the voice actors for Keizo and Koyuki, respectively.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
