Hollywood’s Already Learning the Wrong Lessons From Demon Slayer’s Success

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle has been dominating the box office as the most successful anime film of all time, and Hollywood is already learning the wrong lessons from its success. Demon Slayer has been an absolute marvel to see in theaters as following the monumental success of Mugen Train a few years ago (which was already breaking box office records in its on right), the newest feature film in the franchise has pretty much eclipsed the previous in pretty much every single way. It means Koyoharu Gotoge’s franchise is going to be a hotter commodity than ever before.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle has been doing so well in the United States that it has marked a major shift for success of anime films in the domestic box office. It’s a showcase of how big anime has become among fans over the last five years specifically, but those in Hollywood are already learning the wrong lessons from the film as apparently there’s already a live-action adaptation in the works (and being fast tracked) according to a report from notable scooper DanielRPK.

Demon Slayer Live-Action Adaptation in the Works With Netflix?

According to the report from DanielRPK, Netflix is “fast tracking” a potential live-action adaptation for Demon Slayer. Few other details have yet to be revealed about those plans, but it’s already going in the complete opposite direction from the new movie’s success. While a live-action TV series or movie would make sense for Netflix as they have already had successes with the likes of One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender, there are also quite a few other live-action projects that have not hit those same heights like Yu Yu Hakusho, Death Note and much more. But that’s not even the main concern.

Live-action anime adaptations have become much more of a norm these past few years as anime projects have started to reach new levels of worldwide recognition. We’re starting to see forward momentum on even long running and major successful franchises like Naruto and My Hero Academia with their own live-action movies, but it’s taken a long time to get to this point. Thanks to notable failures like Dragon Ball Evolution setting perception of anime projects in Hollywood for a long time, it’s taken literal decades of work for anime to have any kinds of success at the box office.

The world has literally had to change for anime to reach this kind of height, and Demon Slayer got to ride that changing wave. Thanks to both the advent of streaming and the COVID-19 pandemic drawing more eyes to anime overall, Demon Slayer was able to be the first real viral anime hit of that era. And ever since, that audience has only grown with each new season of the TV series. That fandom then took their support to theaters, and it’s now resulted in the success we’re starting to see play out now. But it looks like that old pattern is repeating itself.

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Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Has Changed Anime Forever

Anime Fans Don’t Watch Live-Action Shows

The lesson that should be taken from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is that people love anime. But it seems that those looking at the dollar signs are thinking the property itself is what prints the money. That’s not the case at all. While there are franchises like One Piece that have had success with multiple iterations of the franchise, it’s because of that built in fanbase from over several decades. It’s not the same for Demon Slayer as it’s popular with young adults, but they are drawn to the anime specifically.

Those who like the anime won’t necessarily be drawn to a live-action adaptation just because it’s Demon Slayer. What those trying to adapt these franchises don’t realize is that fans love these anime and manga versions of Tanjiro Kamado and the others. It’s going to be a harder sell for someone to step into those roles and try and bring it to life with the same personality you only get through animation. And to be completely honest, the quality of its animation production is a huge aspect of why people love Demon Slayer in the first place.

It’s not something that can be replicated with live-action actors and set pieces. It’s not impossible to do, but it would be stripping away the key reason fans love the franchise in the first place. It’s why it’s the wrong thing to be taking away from Demon Slayer’s success at the box office. It’s not that Demon Slayer is a simple money making machine, but it’s the fact that it’s an anime doing this. Anime is what is doing well in theaters. Take that away, and you’re back to just another project in a sea of movies and TV shows soon to be forgotten.

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