‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ Breaks Records, Becomes Highest-Grossing Anime Film Ever

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle has officially carved its place in box office history. The newest chapter in Ufotable’s smash-hit franchise has now pulled in more than $555 million globally, making it not just the highest-grossing anime film ever, but the biggest Japanese movie of all time worldwide.

Global Success

The film’s momentum overseas has been huge. Over the past weekend, Infinity Castle added $36 million from 62 Sony/Crunchyroll markets, or $53.3 million when including North America. France and Germany both saw record-breaking anime launches, opening with $8.6 million and $8.2 million, respectively.

Even with currency shifts that make comparisons tricky, the movie is still performing impressively. In Japan, it’s earned about 34 billion yen, slightly below the last Demon Slayer juggernaut, Mugen Train. But globally, thanks to stronger international numbers, Infinity Castle has surged ahead in dollar totals.

So far, Sony/Crunchyroll releases have contributed $269 million, while Korea ($37.3M) and Taiwan ($25M) added more via other distributors. Among Sony/Crunchyroll’s top markets are Mexico ($15.1M), Hong Kong ($12.4M), India ($8.1M), UK ($7.5M), and Indonesia ($7.3M).

(Disclaimer: The figures being reported for this film are all over the place. Our typically reliable sources differ by more than $100 million globally. According to Comscore, for example, the total global take is as much as $665.8 million. But the $555 million number is at the low end of what we’ve seen and has been the preferred total for the trades, so that’s what we went with here.)

Domestic Performance

In North America, Infinity Castle’s performance has been equally impressive. After shattering records with a $70 million opening weekend, the film added another $17.3 million in its second frame, bringing its domestic total to about $104 million. While that’s a steep drop of around 75% from its debut, it was still enough to hold onto the No. 1 spot.

Steep week two drop-offs for anime films are par for the course, as fans have been conditioned for years to expect limited releases for these kinds of films. Only recently have major Japanese animated IPs started getting wide theatrical runs of longer than one week.

More importantly, this latest milestone makes Infinity Castle the highest-grossing anime film ever in North America, overtaking Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, which earned $85.7M back in 1999.