Demon Slayer Tops Box Office Record with U.S. Opening

If you did not know already, Demon Slayer has made its big entrance to theaters in the United States at long last. The anime brought its first film to life in Japan last fall, and it would put things lightly to say it was a standout hit. Despite the pandemic, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba managed to break dozens of box office records in Japan, and it is now the country’s highest-grossing movie of all time. As you can imagine, fans overseas have been eager to watch the movie themselves, and its domestic premiere is already breaking records thanks to stateside audiences.

If you did not hear, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Mugen Train went live this weekend after a long wait. Now, the box office numbers are in, and it turns out Tanjiro struck gold. The movie came in second at the domestic box office with a staggering $15.9 million USD haul. It fell just short of number one as Mortal Kombat debuted this weekend to $22.5 million.

As you can imagine, Demon Slayer is living large with this success, and its popularity is even more exciting when you realize how many theaters it played in. The anime flick was a few million away from defeating Mortal Kombat with shows in less than 1,600 locations nationwide. As for Mortal Kombat, the big-budget flick screened in over 3,000 venues, so Demon Slayer might have won the week if it roped in more theaters. But as it stands, Sub-Zero managed to eek out a victory over Nezuko this past weekend.

Currently, Demon Slayer is expected to end its weekend gross with $19.5 million which blows its expectations out of the water. Analysts thought it was lofty for the film to earn $10 million in its opening weekend domestically, but Tanjiro showed everyone wrong. His movie now holds the record for being the highest-grossing foreign-language film domestically in its opening weekend. Overall, it stands at number eleven on that same list with lifetime gross, so here’s to hoping Demon Slayer continues to slay with moviegoers.

If you haven’t watched Demon Slayer just yet, you can find the anime online. Crunchyroll is streaming all of season one right now while Funimation oversees the dub. At this time, Demon Slayer is working on season two, and its new episodes are expected to debut later in 2021. No date has been announced for the film’s home video at this time.

What do you think of this opening weekend haul? Did you expect Demon Slayer to come out of the gate so strong? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

HT – Variety