Here’s another box office surprise in a year that has had plenty of them: “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” has surpassed the DC blockbuster “Superman” at the global box office.
Released by Aniplex and Toho in Japan and Sony Pictures’ Crunchyroll internationally, the latest film from Ufotable’s acclaimed anime action series has become the first in history not produced in the English or Mandarin languages to gross more than $600 million worldwide.
On Tuesday, the film reached $617 million, passing the $615 global total of “Superman” to become the seventh highest grossing film this year. It needs roughly $18 million to pass Apple/Warner Bros.’ “F1” and Universal’s “How to Train Your Dragon” remake to crack the top 5.
In the United States, “Infinity Castle” has passed “Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back” as the highest grossing anime film of all time with more than $120 million grossed. That’s higher than animated releases like “Bad Guys 2” and “Elio” and stands as Sony’s highest grossing film this year.
While a very unique case of a wildly popular anime series getting a theatrical release that is a direct continuation of the story arc playing out on TV, “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” shows how anime has become a global force at the box office. That has been aided by Sony’s commitment to releasing anime films on a regular basis in theaters and promoting those releases to subscribers of Crunchyroll’s streaming service.
Sony and Crunchyroll’s next anime release will be a film from the series “Chainsaw Man” on October 24, followed by Mamoru Hosoda’s fantasy film “Scarlet” in December.
