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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ slashes 26-year box office record | |
and tops weekend box office | |
By Auzinea Bacon, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:01 PM EDT, Sun September 14, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – the Movie Infinity Castle” | |
shattered the record for biggest opening weekend domestic gross for an | |
anime movie, hauling in an estimated $70 million. | |
“Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” which is distributed in North | |
America by Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Crunchyroll, raked in $33 | |
million on Friday alone, surging past Warner Bros. Pictures’ 1999 | |
anime hit “Pokémon: The First Movie,” which grossed $31 million in | |
its opening weekend. Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of | |
CNN. | |
“Infinity Castle” is also the best opening for a “Demon Slayer” | |
movie, after FUNimation Entertainment’s “Demon Slayer: Mugen | |
Train” ($21 million) in 2021 and Sony’s “Demon Slayer: To the | |
Hashira Training” ($11.5 million) in 2024. | |
“We can easily call this a surprise hit,” said Paul Dergarabedian, | |
head of marketplace trends at Comscore, adding that, “to have this | |
one dominate the (domestic box office), I don’t think anyone could | |
see this coming.” | |
Dergarabedian called “Infinity Castle” a “box office | |
juggernaut,” noting that it’s the sixth-largest September opening, | |
according to Comscore data. It’s just the fifth anime film to be | |
released domestically in the last three years, according to Box Office | |
Mojo. | |
But Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of | |
analytics firm Box Office Theory, said the genre has “been building | |
to a performance like this for several years.” | |
“That’s really crescendoing into this blockbuster-level type of box | |
office that kicks off the final trilogy,” he said, adding that the | |
genre’s fanbase has continued to grow domestically, especially among | |
Gen Z and Gen Alpha. | |
The No. 2 movie at the box office this weekend was Warner Bros.’ | |
“The Conjuring: Last Rites,” which earned $26.1 million, followed | |
by Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” the final | |
installment of the Downton Abbey franchise, which earned $18.1 million. | |
Lionsgate’s “The Long Walk,” an adaptation of the 1979 Stephen | |
King book, came in fourth with $11.5 million. | |
This weekend continued a trend of movies that court audiences of all | |
ages and various genres, although horror has been a highlight leading | |
into the fall season. | |
Dergarabedian said the “well-curated” slate of movies this month | |
could lead to strong ticket sales in the coming weeks, with Universal | |
Pictures’ and Jordan Peele’s “Him” opening next weekend and | |
expected to boost mid-September sales. | |
The busy box office is a good sign for theaters, which are coming off a | |
lackluster end to the summer season. | |
“For many years, we would see strong Augusts and slow Septembers. | |
It’s reversed this year in a lot of ways. That kind of feeds into the | |
theory that there’s always an ebb and flow,” Robbins said. | |
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