Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Sets New Box Office Records Worldwide
Demon Slayer Infinity Castle isn’t just a hit—it’s smashing box office milestones and rewriting anime history across the globe.
Anime just planted a flag at the September box office. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Infinity Castle didn’t just open big, it steamrolled records and is already Sony’s biggest 2025 release so far. Here’s how the numbers shake out, plus a little inside baseball on why they matter.
Record domestic start
The film launched with a $70 million weekend in North America, the biggest opening ever for an anime movie and for a Crunchyroll release, and it still managed to land sixth among all-time September debuts. Day by day, it pulled in $33 million on Friday, $21.6 million on Saturday, and $15.4 million on Sunday across 3,315 theaters.
Attendance-wise, about 4.5 million people showed up. Average ticket prices came in at $14.56 for standard showings and $17.91 for premium formats. That premium number is going to matter in a second.
Who showed up (and how)
The crowd skewed male at 57%, with 37% identifying as Hispanic or Latino. Subtitled screenings actually led the way at 55% of the audience. On Saturday, 53% of the turnout came after 5 p.m., which tracks for a fan-driven event movie. The top-grossing location was Regal Irvine Spectrum in California at $167,000. Pre-sales were intense: 67% of tickets were bought ahead of time. PostTrak has the audience rating at a near-perfect 98%, and CinemaScore graded it an "A" — the best mark this franchise has received so far.
Overseas surge and premium push
Internationally, the movie has racked up $282.9 million, bringing the worldwide total to $352.9 million out of the gate. Premium formats, including IMAX, accounted for a hefty 44% of the opening weekend haul. That’s a serious boost and a good sign that fans are chasing the biggest-possible screen, which tends to help legs.
Business angle: Crunchyroll label, lean marketing, solid fee
Sony released the film under its Crunchyroll banner and took a 20% distribution fee. The marketing was lean by blockbuster standards — roughly $10 to $12 million — but clearly targeted: heavy digital, a 24-hour watch party, trailer drops at fan expos, sports tie-ins, and in-theater collectibles. It’s the kind of campaign that knows exactly who it’s talking to and doesn’t waste a dime trying to convert the unconvertible.
Weekend box office snapshot
- Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle - $70 million
- The Conjuring: Last Rites - $26.1 million (now $332.9 million worldwide)
- Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale - $18.1 million opening on a $50 million budget
- The Long Walk - $11.5 million
- Disney's Toy Story re-release - $3.5 million
The read
Between the record anime opening, supercharged premium share, and sky-high audience scores, Infinity Castle has clear momentum. With international markets already pouring it on, the real question is how high it can climb from here — and how long it can hold those premium screens while the competition tries to catch up.