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Demon Slayer Film Earns Upwards of US$30 Million in 1st 3 Days

Entertainment news website Deadline reported on Sunday that the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-Hen) film for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series has grossed more than US$30 million in Japan in its first three days, but clarified that the numbers were not final and could be higher until full box office figures are made public on Tuesday in Japan. The film earned over 1 billion yen (about US$9.48 million) in its opening day alone.

In comparison, Makoto Shinkai's your name. film earned 1,277,960,000 yen (about US$12.51 million) in its first three days in July 2016, and his next movie Weathering With You earned 1,643,809,400 yen (about US$15.22 million) in its first three days in July 2019. Outside of anime, Frozen 2 earned US$18.2 million in its opening weekend in Japan last November.

The film opened in Japan last Friday in 403 theaters, and it also began screening in all 38 IMAX theaters in Japan on the same day. Some theaters reportedly screened the movie 40 times each day. The film is the first Japanese film that opened this year to screen in IMAX theaters. Funimation and Aniplex of America will screen the film in theaters in North America in early 2021.

Theatergoers in Japan will receive a "Rengoku Volume 0" manga volume, which is limited to 4.5 million copies. Original manga creator Koyoharu Gotouge drew the manga, which shows Rengoku's first mission.

The main staff members of the previous television anime are returning for the sequel film. TOHO and Aniplex are handling the film's distribution in Japan.

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.

Aniplex of America describes the television anime's story:

It is the Taisho Period in Japan. Tanjiro, a kindhearted boy who sells charcoal for a living, finds his family slaughtered by a demon. To make matters worse, his younger sister Nezuko, the sole survivor, has been transformed into a demon herself.

Though devastated by this grim reality, Tanjiro resolves to become a “demon slayer” so that he can turn his sister back into a human, and kill the demon that massacred his family.

Sources: Deadline (Nancy Tartaglione), Nikkan Sports