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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Film Ranks as 10th All-Time Highest Earning Film in Japan
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime film has sold over 11 million tickets and earned over 15.7 billion yen (about US$149 million) as of Sunday, its 17th day in the Japanese box office. The film is now ranked at #10 among all movies that ever opened in Japan (including foreign films), moving James Cameron's Avatar to #11 with its 15.6 billion yen (about US$148 million by today's conversion) gross.
Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train is now the fifth anime film on the top 10, after Spirited Away (at #1), your name. (#4), Howl's Moving Castle (#6), and Princess Mononoke (#7). The film ranks just above Ponyo and Weathering With You, at #12 and #13, respectively.
The film opened in Japan on October 16. The anime began screening in all 38 IMAX theaters in Japan on the same day. The film is the first Japanese film opening this year to screen in IMAX theaters. Theatergoers received a "Rengoku Volume 0" manga volume, which was limited to 4.5 million copies. Original manga creator Koyoharu Gotouge drew the manga, which shows Rengoku's first mission.
The film had the highest box office globally for the October 16-18 weekend. The film sold 3,424,930 tickets and earned 4,623,117,450 yen (about US$43.85 million) in Japan in its first three days, for the highest weekday opening and the highest opening weekend ever in Japan. The film then set a new record in Japan for the fastest film to earn 10 billion yen (in 10 days), beating out Spirited Away (which is currently the top-grossing film of all time in Japan, having earned 30.8 billion yen). Spirited Away took 25 days to reach 10 billion yen when it opened in Japan in 2001.
The main staff members of the previous television anime returned for the sequel film. TOHO and Aniplex are handling the film's distribution in Japan.
Funimation and Aniplex of America will screen the film in theaters in North America in early 2021.
Gotouge's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga inspired a television anime that premiered in April 2019, and aired its 26th and final episode in September 2019.
Sources: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Kōgyō Tsūshin
Update: The film is now the 15th most watched film in Japan, below King Kong vs. Godzilla and above Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
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