The final battle ignites for the Demon Slayer Corps, and it’s not going easy on the competition. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, the first film in a trilogy adapting the final arc of Koyoharu Gotoge’s manga, has smashed a domestic box office record in its first day, living up to high fan expectations.
The anime movie opened a whopping 1.7 billion yen (US$11.75 million), smashing the previous record held by…wait for it, 2020’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie – Infinity Train, which collected 1.2 billion yen in Japan during the same window. Per Deadline, estimates put its earnings over three days to be as high as 5.9 billion yen (US$39.7 million), and the biggest single-day IMAX haul of US$3 million — breaking yet another milestone in Japanese box office history.
The success hardly comes as a surprise, considering that its first main trailer registered more than 40 million views within 24 hours on official social media platforms. The numbers are only expected to climb over the next few weeks leading up to the film’s first wave of global rollouts in Thailand on 12 August. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Pakistan will begin screenings on 14 August, followed by Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam (15 August), and the Philippines (20 August).
As for the remaining markets, here’s the full list of premiere dates:
- 11 September: Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean (Jamaica, Aruba, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Curacao), Central America, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland (Italian-speaking), Syria, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates
- 12 September: India, Mongolia, Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Kenya, Latvia, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Romania, Southern Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom
- 17 September: Belgium, France, French-speaking Africa, Luxembourg, Switzerland (French-speaking)
- 18 September: Moldova
- 25 September: Austria, Germany, Switzerland (German-speaking)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle is set directly after the finale of the fourth anime season, when 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, where a decisive battle between the Demon Slayers and Muzan’s subordinates, the Upper Moons, kicks off.
Animation studio ufotable returns to helm the project, which will be available in IMAX and in both Japanese with English subtitles, as well as in English dub. It marks the fourth movie in the lineup, but unlike the Swordsmith Village and Hashira Training compilation films, it serves as a feature-length multi-film adaptation like Mugen Train.
Released in 2020, Mugen Train proved to be a critical and commercial success even during the height of the pandemic. It grossed over US$507 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing pic of that year.
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.
Natalie
