Demon Slayer Continues to Conquer at the Box Office

Crunchyroll and Sony must be pleased. As Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle heads past a cume of $100M, the film is set to take the title from Pokémon (1999) for the highest-grossing anime movie at the domestic box office. To fill us in on this weekend’s potential and victories, we have Brandon Blake, entertainment law firms los angeles at Blake & Wang P.A. 

Brandon Blake

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle closed out Sunday with $105M in the kitty, adding $17M to its second weekend release. This puts it well past Pokémon’s benchmark of $85.7M in takings, making it a clear victory for Sony. Globally, the film now has more than $467M in the kitty, a remarkable performance for any animated title, especially with animated titles typically being heavily front-loaded. 

This weekend also saw the self-described “football horror movie”, Him, head to the box office for its first week of release. It slightly missed the anticipated mid-to-high teens takings predicted for it, bringing home $13M over 3,100 theaters. Ironically, the film probably saw some audience misses due to the NFL games scheduled for this weekend, especially on its Sunday traffic.

The Conjuring: Last Rites and Downtown Abbey: The Grande Finale, both designed to bring an end to their respective phases of their franchises, both saw strong traction at the box office, with The Conjuring adding a further $12M to its impressive domestic takings of $151M, and Downtown Abbey taking a respectable $6.4M to add to its $32M domestic. The Long Walk managed a respectable hold, adding $6.2M to its $23M in local takings.

Sadly, for Margot Robbie, her first outing since the phenomenon that was Barbie, A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey, missed the mark quite badly. Anticipated to take $10M over 3,200 theaters, the picture brought in a paltry $3.3M in its first weekend. This aligns better with critics’ expectations than Sony’s, and it’s unclear at present if the film will manage to perk up in its second week of release.

Rounding out this week’s (unfortunately sleepy) Top 10, we have The Senior, the latest release from Angel Studios as they explore going public on the stock exchange. The film performed in line with expectations, bringing in $2.6M at the North American box office. Toy Story managed to add $1.4M to its takings 30 years after its release, as the special anniversary addition returns briefly to cinemas. Sight & Sound Presents: NOAH Live, at $1.3M, and Weapons, which added $1.2M to its 7-week total, finished the list.

While it wasn’t one of the most exceptional box office weekends we’ve seen, it still represents some strong performances, including Demon Slayer’s impressive conquest of the silver screen, and there’s much to celebrate in a weekend where small releases and wide audience interest were the name of the game. With several anticipated blockbuster releases between us and the end of the year, let’s hope to see the consistent pull with audiences continue into the new year and beyond.