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Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc Opens at #1, 100 Meters Anime Film Debuts at #8
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc film sold over 272,000 tickets for over 420 million yen (about US$2.8 million) on its opening day in Japan on Friday.
The film opened in Japan on Friday in 421 theaters, and had midnight screenings in 12 theaters across Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Hokkaido in Japan. The film also has MX4D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema screenings. The film's distributor TOHO projects the film could eventually earn 5 billion yen (about US$34 million) over its entire theatrical run.
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has acquired worldwide theatrical rights the film. The company will open the film in theaters in the United States on October 24, several days earlier than its originally scheduled October 29 release. The film will open in the United Kingdom on October 29, and will screen earlier in more than 80 countries on September 24.
Reina Ueda plays Reze in the film.
The film had sold a total of 23,042,671 tickets for 33,056,606,000 yen (about US$224 million) as of Monday, September 15, its 60th day in the Japanese box office. This makes it the second highest earning film of all time at the Japanese box office, surpassing Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's 2001 film Spirited Away, which earned 31,680,000,000 (about US$315 million in 2001's yen-dollar conversion) to become the #2 highest-earning film of all time in Japan. The film has earned an estimated total of US$555 million worldwide as of Sunday, September 21. The film is now the highest-earning anime film of all time worldwide, as well as the highest-earning Japanese film of all time worldwide. It is also the #9 highest-grossing film worldwide for 2025, after surpassing The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Captain America: Brave New World.
The film earned an estimated US$17.3 million in the United States in its second weekend in the U.S. box office, thus ranking #1 in the U.S. box office for its second weekend. It is the first anime film to top the U.S. for two consecutive weekends. With US$104,730,034 in the United States, it has become the highest-grossing anime film in the country (unadjusted for inflation) and also the first to earn over US$100 million there.
Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, the October 2020 film from the same franchise, is currently the highest earning film in Japan, with a 40.75 billion yen (about US$277 million in current conversion) total take in Japan. The film itself surpassed Spirited Away (then the #1 highest earning film in Japan) in December 2020, two months after it opened in Japan.
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").
The film opened in Japan on August 29, and ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 672,000 tickets and earned 960,867,600 yen (about US$6.46 million) in its first three days. The film now has the highest earning opening three days for a live-action film in Japan for 2025.
The film had its world premiere screening at Cannes during the festival on May 19. The film had an eight-minute standing ovation at its Cannes screening. The film's poster (image right) also won Cannes' Prix Luciole poster competition.
The film will also have its screening at the Centrepiece Section of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, which will be held on September 4-14; and at the 58th SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain, on October 9-19.
North American film distribution company NEON (Oscar-winning films Parasite, Anora U.S. distributor) will release the film in North America in early 2026.
Singer and actor Kazunari Ninomiya (live-action Letters from Iwo Jima, Ōoku, Gantz, Assassination Classroom) stars in the film in his first collaboration with writer-director Genki Kawamura (producer on your name., Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom?, Suzume).
In the game, a player is trapped at a subway train station, in an underground passageway that goes in an endless loop. To escape to "Exit 8," the player must keep walking while looking carefully for any anomaly that foreshadows danger.
The film opened on September 12. It sold 283,000 tickets and earned 346 million yen (about US$2.35 million) in its first three days.
The film's story is set on Aiai Island during the Super Miracle Idol Festival, the #1 idol festival in the universe. Uta and the others join idols from around the world, but Uta meets Tera, a red-haired girl who despises idols. The film previously teased the appearances of the characters from the franchise's previous two main anime entries, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure and Wonderful Precure!
The five Precure girls (as voiced by their respective cast members) perform the "♪HiBiKi Au Uta♪" theme song.
The cast also includes Maaya Uchida as Tera, Ayane Sakura as Amas, and comedian Atsuhiro Tsuda, from the comedy duo Diane, as Totto.
Each filmgoer who is in junior high school or lower will receive one of two different, randomly distributed light-up Miracle Aiai Bracelets. The nationwide concert tour accompanying the film will feature the film's theme song, and participating theaters will stream the tour's final stop for live viewing.
The film held its world premiere at Annecy on June 12. The movie premiered in Japan on September 19.
GKIDS will screen the film on October 12-14 in Japanese with English subtitles and with an English dub. There will be an opening screening in Los Angeles on October 10.
Tori Matsuzaka plays the gifted runner Togashi, while Shōta Sometani plays Komiya, a hard worker whose obsession with the 100-meter dash began when he met Togashi.
Kenji Iwaisawa (ON-GAKU: Our Sound) directed the film at Rock 'n' Roll Mountain. Pony Canyon, TBS TV, and ASMIK Ace are credited with production. Yasuyuki Mutō (Tokyo Revengers) wrote the script. Keisuke Kojima was the character designer and chief animation director, and Keikankun Yamaguchi was the art director. Producers include Yūsuke Terada, Yūki Katayama, and Akane Taketsugu. Hiroaki Tsutsumi composed the music for the film.
The band Official HiGE DANdism performs the film's theme song "Rashisa."
The film opened in Japan in September 5. Kanna Hashimoto returns from the first film.
A manga adaptation of the film launched on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ service on July 1. Previous Karada Sagashi manga series artist Katsutoshi Murase is again drawing the new manga, Welzard is credited for the original work, and Harumi Doki is again credited for the screenplay, along with the film's producer Yūki Hara. MANGA Plus is releasing the manga in English under the title Re/Member: The Last Night.
Welzard's original cellphone novel on the Everystar site inspired Murase's manga adaptation. The story centers on Asuka, a high school student who sees the apparition of a dead student named Haruka, asking Asuka to find her body. As the story progresses, Asuka and her friends attempt to find the eight scattered pieces of Haruka's corpse in the school, and learn more about the Red Person that is hunting them as they do so. The Red Person hunts students who are alone at school to kill them, and until they exit the school gates, the Red Person will keep appearing before them. When the Red Person kills a student, it scatters the student's body into eight pieces, and tasks another person to find the pieces in the school. If Asuka fails to find Haruka's body, the day will keep repeating and she and her friends will keep dying until they do.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC
