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Demon Slayer Film Tops Frozen 2 for Highest 1st-Week Animated Blu-ray/DVD Sales in 2 Years

The Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime ranked #1 and #2 (for the regular and limited edition releases) on both Oricon's Blu-ray Disc and DVD weekly ranking charts when it debuted during the June 16-20 week. The film's regular editions set new records for animated titles since Japan began its current Reiwa era two years ago.

The regular edition Blu-ray Disc has sold 351,326 copies, while the limited edition has sold 338,016 copies. The regular edition DVD has sold 456,909 copies, while the limited edition has sold 164,532 copies.

The film's regular editions have surpassed the sales for the limited editions of Frozen 2, the previous record holder for highest first-week DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales in the animation category in the Reiwa era (from May 13, 2019).

The anime film had sold 1,074,170 copies total of its Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases in Japan (including both the limited and regular editions) in only three days since it debuted on June 16.

On the first day of the home video release, it sold 268,490 limited-edition and 201,895 regular-edition Blu-ray Discs, and 115,499 limited-edition and 218,195 regular-edition DVDs for a total of 804,079 discs. In one day, it garnered the highest one-week Blu-ray Disc and DVD sales so far this year.

On the second day, it sold 30,007 limited-edition and 50,881 regular-edition Blu-ray Discs, and 20,751 limited-edition and 71,507 regular-edition DVDs for a total of 173,146 discs.

On the third day, it sold 12,549 limited-edition and 33,609 regular-edition Blu-ray Discs, and 8,609 limited-edition and 42,178 regular-edition DVDs for a total of 96,945 discs.

The home video release of Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train includes Japanese subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and English subtitles, as well the Japanese soundtrack in 2-channel audio, in 5.1-channel audio, and with audio descriptions for the blind and visually impaired.

The limited edition of the release adds a box with an exclusive illustration (pictured above right) by character designer Akira Matsushima, as well as an inner jacket (pictured above) illustrated by ufotable. The main cast members Natsuki Hanae (Tanjirō Kamado), Akari Kitō (Nezuko Kamado), Hiro Shimono (Zenitsu Agatsuma), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Inosuke Hashibira), and Satoshi Hino (Kyōjurō Rengoku) provided an audio commentary track.

The limited edition also bundles a bonus CD with a stereo mix of the film scoring edition of the film's soundtrack. A bonus DVD includes a digest video of the October 17 stage greeting appearance by the cast and staff at Tokyo's TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills theater, the Fuji TV special featuring the cast to commemorate the film's opening, the 10 rock-paper-scissors mini-game shorts that aired during the Mezamashi TV morning show, and a collection of promotional videos and commercials. An exclusive booklet includes new roundtable discussions between the production staff members and a compilation of the cast interviews from the special books handed out at theaters.

Mugen Train began screening in Japan on October 16. After 12 consecutive weeks at #1 in the box office in Japan, it dropped to #2 during the January 9-10 weekend, its 13th weekend. The film had ranked in the top three spots weekly in Japan since then, until its 22nd weekend.

The film sold a total of 28,966,806 tickets for 40,016,942,050 yen (about US$367.6 million) in Japan as of May 23 — and became the first film ever to pass the 40 billion yen milestone. It has since earned 40,096,913,600 yen (about US$366.53 million) in Japan as of June 6. It is still playing in some Japanese theaters.

In 45 countries and territories worldwide, Mugen Train sold a total of 41.35 million tickets to earn the equivalent of 51.7 billion yen (about US$475 million) as of May 23. The film was the highest-earning film worldwide from 2020. It is the first non-Hollywood or non-American film to top the yearly box office worldwide since the beginning of cinema over a century ago.

The film is now the #2 highest-earning anime film ever at the U.S. box office.

Mugen Train has surpassed Hayao Miyazaki's 2002 Spirited Away, its last rival for all-time highest earnings in Japanese box office history. The film has also surpassed Spirited Away as the #1 highest-earning Japanese film of all time worldwide.

The film had the highest opening weekend 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. The film sold 910,507 tickets and earned over 1,268,724,700 yen (about US$12.03 million) on its opening day alone, making it the highest weekday opening day in Japan ever.

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 released the film digitally on June 22.

Sources: Nico Nico News, Oricon (link 2)