‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ Tops the Box Office

Still from ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Preview:

‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle’ won the US box office this weekend.
The movie has earned more than $300 million globally.
‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ dropped to second place.

Though September is usually viewed as a sluggish time for the box office, Sony’s latest release, Japanese anime movie ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle’ has struck gold, opening to an impressive $70 million, the biggest opening ever for an anime title and more than double 1999’s ‘Pokémon: The First Movie’, which launched to $31 million.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

“It’s time to have some fun.”

Release Date: Sep 12, 2025

Run Time: 2 hr 35 min

Budget: $20,000,000

It’s just the latest big hit for the medium, following the success of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’, the Sing-Along version of which Sony released in collaboration with Netflix. But while ‘Demon Hunters’ technically doesn’t register on the charts, ‘Demon Castle’ is a theatrical bona fide sensation.

How did ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle’ do elsewhere?

Still from ‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’. Photo: Sony Pictures.

The new movie, which represents the first part of a trilogy, has already earned plenty of money globally, $300 million to be exact, including more than $200 million in its native Japan where it has become the country’s third-highest-grossing release of all time.

Sony’s anime distribution banner, Crunchyroll, backed the movie and gave the studio a genuine big hit after a quiet summer that included misses such as ‘Caught Stealing’ and more modest performers such as ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ and the legacy sequel ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’.

What else happened at the box office this weekend?

(L to R) Patrick Wilson as Ed Warren and Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren in New Line Cinema’s ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Giles Keyte. Copyright: © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’, which had its own successful launch last weekend, took a 69% tumble, making $26.1 million, and bringing its domestic total to $131.1 million.

Third was ‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’, looking to wrap up the series, which started on TV in the UK and previously spawned two other movies. This latest entry made $18.1 million, a little ahead of 2022’s ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’.

In fourth place, we find ‘The Longest Walk’, the dystopian dramatic thriller adapted from the Stephen King story. It opened to $11.5 million, which considering its troubled development history, is seen as a minor victory for making it to screens at all.

And in fifth, Disney/Pixar’s ‘Toy Story’ was re-released in 2,375 theaters to mark its 30th anniversary, and it made $3.5 million.

Most of the rest of the top 10 was held by current movies, though another sequel, ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’, debuted to a somewhat disappointing $1.67 million in ninth from 1,920 theaters.