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1st Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Film Surpasses Titanic in Japan; Breaks Records in Southeast Asia
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
Additionally, Sony Pictures Entertainment revealed on Sunday that the film earned US$4.2 million in its opening weekend in the Philippines, and is now the country's #1 all-time anime film. The film opened in the Philippines on August 20. The film opened in Thailand on August 12, and is now the biggest anime and animated film of all time, and the country's top film of the year, with current earnings of US$6.0 million. The film has also become the highest-grossing anime film of all time in Hong Kong with current earnings of US$7.1 million, in Indonesia with US$6.2 million, and in Malaysia with US$5.0 million. Entertainment news website Variety reported that the film dominated the Korean box office in its opening weekend and sold 1.6 million tickets for US$12.6 million. The film currently has a cumulative international earnings of US$34.7 million.
The film surpassed the 2003 Bayside Shakedown 2 film and entered Japan's all-time top 10 in just 17 days, on August 4. The film then surpassed One Piece Film Red as the #6 highest-earning film of all time as of 25 days, and then topped Makoto Shinkai's your name. and Disney's Frozen and became the #4 highest-earning film of all time after 31 days.
The film previously set a new record in Japan for the fastest film to earn 10 billion yen, beating the franchise's first film Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-Hen) in 2020, which is also currently the top-grossing film of all time in Japan. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - Akaza Sairai film's box office revenue exceeded 10 billion yen within eight days of its release.
The first Infinity Castle film has also topped Mugen Train for Japan's best-ever opening weekend box office (when four-day openings are compared with three-day openings), best opening-day box office (1,155,637 tickets for 1,646,054,200 yen or US$11.18 million on July 18), and best single-day box office (1,421,804 tickets for 2,037,820,200 yen or US$13.8 million on July 20). However, Mugen Train's opening weekend box office was for three days instead of four days.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - Akaza Sairai opened in Japan on July 18 and sold 3,843,613 tickets for 5,524,298,500 yen (about US$37.47 million) in its first three days. Counting the film's take for the Marine Day holiday on July 21, the film sold 5,164,348 tickets and earned 7,315,846,800 yen (about US$49.63 million) over the four-day long weekend.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle - Akaza Sairai is playing on 443 screens (a franchise record) throughout Japan, including IMAX screenings. Outside Japan, Aniplex aims for the new film to play in over 150 countries and regions, which is wider than the franchise's previous world tour of over 145 countries and regions. Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Aniplex will screen the first film in theaters, including IMAX and other premium large screen formats, in the United States and Canada on September 12. The film will screen in Japanese with English subtitles and with an English dub.
Haruo Sotozaki is directing the anime at ufotable, and ufotable is also credited for the screenplay. Aimer is performing the song "Taiyō ga Noboranai Sekai" ("A World Where the Sun Never Rises"), and LiSA is performing the song "Zankoku no Yoru ni Kagayake" ("Shine in the Cruel Night").
Sources: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba franchise's X/Twitter account, Email correspondence, Kōgyō Tsūshin, Cinema Today (倉本拓弥)
