Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Breaks Records For Biggest Weekend Openings

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba—The Movie: Mugen Train has broken all records and expectations by earning 1.2 billion yen on its opening day alone. It opened in 403 theatres across Japan, with 38 IMAX screens and 365 normal screens.

Even though it had a Friday release, which usually account for the lowest earnings on an opening weekend, and with the COVID-19, it broke one-day admission records—with 900,000 admissions. It broke admissions records for Saturday as well, exceeding 1 million people, the highest for any release in the Japanese box office; with Sunday records matching that number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcrUou7qbgY

These numbers are not final yet—full box office numbers will only be made public on Tuesday in Japan. However, in comparison to other big movie releases, it is certainly holding its own. Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You, which was 2019’s biggest anime movie, earned 1.5 billion yen in its first weekend.

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Frozen 2 opened to 1.88 billion yen; while Spirited Away, the highest-grossing anime film in Japan, earned 1.05 billion on its first two days. So far, 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded had the highest weekend earnings—with 2.2 billion yen. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is safely on track to beat those records, with estimates of it grossing more than 3 billion yen over the weekend.

According to the predictions of a Japanese Ad Agency, in speaking with Sports Hochi, the movie will gross over 10 million yen. Only two anime films which are not by Hayao Miyazaki have done that—Weathering With You and Your Name.

All Japanese audiences will receive a copy of “Rengoku Volume 0” manga, drawn by the original creator Koyoharu Gotouge. 4.5 million of them were printed by Aniplex and Shueisha, but many cinemas are admitting that they are running out of copies to give to theatregoers.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba—The Movie: Mugen Train will release in theatres across the USA and Canada in 2021.

Update: Demon Slayer: Mugen Trainhas broken all records and earned 4.6 billion yen over the weekend, thus becoming the biggest weekend opening for October 16-18 globally. It has sold over 3.2 million tickets.