DEMON SLAYER: INFINITY CASTLE Shatters Box Office Records With Massive U.S. Debut

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castlehit U.S. theaters this weekend and completely blew past expectations, proving once again that anime is a serious box office powerhouse. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m hoping to see it sometime this week.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film pulled in an estimated $70 million domestically, nearly double the $35–40 million analysts had predicted. Backed by Sony’s heavy marketing push and the massive popularity of the series, this marks the biggest opening ever for an anime film in North America.

It’s also the largest September debut for an animated film. With another $30 million coming from international audiences, Infinity Castle has now reached an impressive $468 million worldwide.

This isn’t the first time Demon Slayer has rewritten the record books. In 2022, Sony released Mugen Train, which set the record for the most successful foreign film opening at the time.

While it didn’t take the top spot at the box office that weekend, it played a huge role in reviving theaters after the early COVID-19 shutdowns and ended up as the highest-grossing film of 2020.

For comparison, other big releases struggled to keep up this weekend. The Conjuring: Last Rites, which opened on September 5, dropped 69 percent domestically and fell behind Infinity Castle. Its current total sits at $131.1 million in North America and $60.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide box office to $332.9 million. That makes it the second highest-grossing film in the franchise, behind the first Nun movie ($366 million) but above The Conjuring 2 ($322.8 million).

Meanwhile, Stephen King’s The Long Walk opened with an estimated $11.5 million domestic. Directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill, the adaptation has been heavily marketed but still came in below other King-inspired films like The Monkey and Doctor Sleep. International numbers haven’t been reported yet.

With Infinity Castle being just the first entry in a trilogy that will close out the Demon Slayer saga, this monster debut shows that fans are ready to see the anime’s finale play out on the big screen in a huge way.