#Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Becomes the 1st Japanese Film in History to Make 50 Billion Yen at WW Box Office

Image via Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Official website

Just as Golden Week ends, the box office receipts come pouring in, and as theorized two days ago, as of its 202nd day in Japanese theaters Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train has become the first Japanese film to ever pass 50 billion yen at the worldwide box office. Mugen Train had already passed Spirited Away as the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, so it was only a matter of when Mugen Train would break this historic barrier.

The official Japanese box office figures for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train were released today, revealing that since our last check-in on April 26, Mugen Train has increased its box office takings in Japan by 100 million for a total of 39.88 billion yen ($366.7 million) on the back of 28.87 million tickets sold. While in the previous week prior the film only brought in 80 million yen, this new figure is from the last 10 days, rather than the usual 7, meaning Mugen Train likely only made as much as it did the week prior.

Fans of Demon Slayer were hoping to get Mugen Train to 40 billion yen in Japan before Rengoku’s birthday on May 10, but since the cancellation of his birthday celebrations and the continuing State of Emergency in most metropolitan regions in Japan closing cinemas, it will be difficult, but not impossible, for that to happen in just 4 days. 

Though a vast majority of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train‘s box office has been from Japan, internationally regions have been doing well for the film (as they re-open after COVID restrictions lift). North America is the second-largest box office for the film and the largest outside of Japan, with US$34 million as of its second weekend in theaters, Taiwan comes in second with US$22.47 million, and finally South Korea in third place internationally at US$16.48 million, for a total worldwide box office gross of US$458.59 million (50.15 billion yen).

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train opened in Japanese cinemas on October 16 and had the best opening weekend in Japanese cinema history, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese theaters ever, the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film worldwide, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2020. You can read our review of the film here. In North America, Mugen Train made its stop in theaters on April 23 both dubbed and subbed formats, with a digital release of the film on June 22, becoming the first anime film to top the US box office since Pokémon: The First Movie in 1999.

The Ufotable-produced anime film continues to adapt the manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge, which saw a TV anime series adaptation in 2019. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series streamed on Crunchyroll as it aired. The second season of the TV anime series, subtitled “Entertainment District arc”, will premiere sometime in 2021 on Japanese TV.

Source: Oricon

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.