Last Rites ”and sets a new record at the box office

Key Points

• Japan’s dark anime fantasy Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle overtook The Conjuring: Last Rites at the box office with a $70 million U.S. premiere haul.

• Totaling $450 million at the global box office so far, Infinity Castle has broken the record of the biggest anime premiere in American history.

• Next week’s contenders for box office glory include sports horror Him, collegiate dramedy Steve, and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

Only one movie was powerful enough to vanquish The Conjuring franchise once and for all.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, a violent animated fantasy film that has been in theaters for weeks in Asian markets, finally premiered in the United States, where it easily surpassed last week’s big box office winner, The Conjuring: Last Rites. Infinity Castle opened to $70 million this weekend, far outpacing Last Rites’ $26.1 million week-two haul.

Based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle is also known as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle – Part 1: Akaza Returns, as it’s the first in a planned trilogy of films set to conclude the epic, transmedia Demon Slayer franchise. In total, that franchise currently includes a five-year manga cycle, a four-season television series, and several other original films and feature-length compilations.

With this stunning opening take, Infinity Castle more than doubles the record set by the previous highest-grossing anime film opening in U.S. box office history — Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, which earned $31 million in 1999 (around $59.5 million adjusted for inflation).

Globally, Infinity Castle’s success is even more striking. The film took in $148 million this weekend after opening not just in the U.S., but in nearly 80 countries across the Middle East, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and beyond. The weekend’s worldwide haul brings its cumulative global gross thus far to $450 million — another feather in the cap for Sony, which released the film via its anime distribution banner Crunchyroll.

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The horrifying conclusion to the nine-film Conjuring universe (11 if you count 2016’s Wolves at the Door and 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona) dropped 69 percent from its $83 million premiere last week. But that figure set a franchise record — highest-ever premiere gross — and given the tendency of the films kickstarted by 2013’s The Conjuring to endure in theaters long after their opens, Last Rites is sure to keep adding to its coffers.

Last Rites earned an impressive $86.6 million at the global box office this weekend, bringing its total there to $332.8 million, and its two-week domestic haul to $131 million — already higher than every film in the franchise besides The Conjuring.

The rest of the picture at the domestic box office this week was a bit unusual, consisting of a high number of both premieres, re-releases, and special releases.

Taking the bronze medal this weekend was Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, which opened to $18.1 million. Though it’s an impressive number for the feature-length conclusion to a television series that ended a decade ago, it’s unnervingly short of the film’s estimated $50 million budget, which already doesn’t account for marketing expenses.

Elsewhere, Francis Lawrence’s Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk and Rob Reiner’s starry sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opened at No. 4 and No. 9 domestically, grossing $11.5 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Toy Story’s special 30th anniversary release took the No. 5 spot with a $3.5 million domestic take; the filmed version of Hamilton — another revival of a decade-old property — grossed $2.2 million in its second week in theaters; and The Sound of Music’s 60th anniversary special release rounded out the domestic top 10 with a $1.4 million opening take.

Plenty of films are slated for release next week, but few seem poised to overtake Infinity Castle.

Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans unite for the sports horror Him, Cillian Murphy stars in Netflix’s collegiate comedy drama Steve, and Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell take viewers on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey in a bid for box office glory.

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