Anime scored again at the box office last weekend, and that’s not just counting the anime-influenced “Creed III.” Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba — To the Swordsmith Village” earned $10.1 million in its domestic debut. Its initial success is another example of how anime has become a reliable and bankable genre in times of theatrical feast and multiplex famine.
In pre-COVID times, such specialty films commanding relatively modest box office would be curiosities alongside tentpoles and conventional studio programmers, with a mere appearance in the weekend top 10 becoming noteworthy in and of itself. But now, out-of-the-ordinary big-screen experiences are finding favor with audiences, with exhibitors gratefully turning to anything with a loyal fan base they can count on to show up at theaters.