“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” ruled over the box office, debuting to a mighty $70 million and setting a record for the biggest opening ever for an anime film. Its haul more than doubled the $31 million benchmark that had been set by 1999’s “Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back.”
“Infinity Castle,” the first installment in what is meant to be a series-capping trilogy for the property, is playing in both subtitled and dubbed versions. It is also showing in many premium large format theaters such as Imax, which carry steeper ticket prices and add to its haul. “Infinity Castle” has already earned more than $300 million globally, including more than $200 million in its native Japan where it has become the country’s third-highest-grossing release of all time.
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Sony’s anime distribution banner, Crunchyroll, backed the film and gave the studio a big hit after a relatively quiet summer that saw it release misses like “Caught Stealing” and more modest performers such as “Karate Kid: Legends” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” “Infinity Castle” also beat “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” ($56.5 million) to become Sony’s biggest domestic opener in over two years.
Last weekend’s champ, Warner Bros. and New Line’s “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” settled for second place, dropping 69% to earn $26.1 million. That brings the film’s domestic total to $131.1 million.
Both “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and “Infinity Castle” have shattered projections, lifting the September box office, which had been expected to be sluggish, while bolstering exhibitors hopes for a stronger than expected fall after a disappointing summer season. It’s been a topsy turvy period at the multiplexes, filled with sleeper breakouts like “Weapons,” as well as franchises like Marvel that are no longer performing at their former levels.
“Infinity Castle” follows in the footsteps of Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” which became the streamer’s most popular film ever and topped the box office when a sing-along version was released in theaters last month.
“Put ‘demon’ in your title and you’re good to go,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst at ComScore. “Animated films just lend themselves visually to the big screen experience and it’s a genre that is truly global.”
“Infinity Castle” wasn’t the only new wide release. There’s “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” intended to serve as a farewell to a franchise that spawned a TV program and several big screen adventures. Released by Universal’s specialty label Focus Features, “The Grand Finale” pulled in $18.1 million. That’s an improvement from the prior entry in the grand houses and the servants and aristocrats who populate them series, “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” which debuted to $16 million in 2022. The audience for “The Grand Finale” was overwhelmingly female (72%), white (73%) and older (57% over the age of 55).
Other new releases include Lionsgate’s Stephen King adaptation “The Long Walk,” which launched in fourth place to $11.5 million, and Bleecker Street’s “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” a sequel to a beloved cult comedy that earned $1.7 million while taking tenth place.
“The Long Walk’s” opening is muted. However, the film, which was directed by Francis Lawrence (“The Hunger Games”) and stars up-and-comers like Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, only cost $20 million to produce, minimizing the studio’s financial risk. Lionsgate has had a rough stretch at the box office, fielding misses like “Americana,” “Hurry Up Tomorrow” and “Ballerina.” But salvation may be in sight, with Lionsgate releasing an adaptation of the best-seller “The Housemaid,” the Aziz Ansari comedy “Good Fortune” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” in the back-half of 2025. “The Long Walk” attracted an audience that was 59% male and 71% over the age of 25.
Disney’s re-release of “Toy Story” hit $3.5 million in 2,375 theaters. The 30th anniversary reissue of Pixar’s first feature looks to round out the top five.
On the arthouse front, Mubi released “The History of Sound,” a historical romance with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, in four theaters, where it earned $85,786 for a per-screen average of $21,446
The success of “Infinity Castle” has led to one of the top grossing September weekends of all time with an estimated total for all films of around $145 million, which is a 50% improvement on the same weekend a year ago when “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” topped charts in its second week of release.
“September is becoming a month to remember at the box office,” said Dergarabedian. “And that’s good news, because summer really ended with a whimper.”
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