The Demon Slayer movie is literally slaying all other films in Japan—past and present—as Japanese media reports that the franchise’s first film, Mugen Train, earns over 1,268,724,700 yen (about USD 12 million) in just its opening day alone! In ticket numbers, that’s a total of 910,507 movie tickets sold on October 16, the movie’s opening day.
This then makes Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train as the film with the highest-earning opening day ever for any film in Japan—local or foreign, animated or live-action! In addition to this, the film also now has the highest-grossing first three days, earning over 4.6 billion yen (USD 43.8 million) as of October 19. For comparison, other films that earned exceedingly well in its first three days in Japan are Makoto Shinkai’s your name (1.3 billion yen = USD 12.5 million) and Weathering with You (1.6 billion yen = USD 15.2 million), as well as Hollywood film Frozen 2 (USD 18.2 million). Looking at these numbers, it’s clear that Demon Slayer easily blew away all competition.
The film opened in Japan last October 16, with North American releases set for early 2021.
The manga’s story is described by Anime News Network as such:
“Since ancient times, rumors have abounded of man-eating demons lurking in the woods. Because of this, the local townsfolk never venture outside at night. Legend has it that a demon slayer also roams the night, hunting down these bloodthirsty demons. For young Tanjiro, these rumors will soon to become his harsh reality. Ever since the death of his father, Tanjiro has taken it upon himself to support his family. Although their lives may be hardened by tragedy, they’ve found happiness. But that ephemeral warmth is shattered one day when Tanjiro finds his family slaughtered and the lone survivor, his sister Nezuko, turned into a demon. To his surprise, however, Nezuko still shows signs of human emotion and thought. Thus begins Tanjiro’s request to fight demons and turn his sister human again.”
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a shonen manga series written by Koyoharu Gotoge. It was first published in February 2016 in Weekly Shonen Jump and ended last May. The manga’s English license is currently held by Viz Media.
Source: Anime News Network