Demon Slayer Succeeded At The Box Office Where Most Movies Fail In 2025

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle" simply cannot be stopped at the box office. Even after ten weekends, the blockbuster anime is still hanging around in over 180 theaters in the U.S., which is extremely rare for any movie these days. But this film has become a downright global sensation, the likes of which we don't see too often in the pandemic era. Case in point, the latest entry in the "Demon Slayer" franchise has now become a smash hit in China as well, which doesn't happen very often anymore.

Last weekend, "Infinity Castle" opened in China, pulling in a hugely impressive $52.4 million. With that, the film has now amassed $730 million worldwide and counting. This year, it trails only "Jurassic World Rebirth" ($868.8 million), "A Minecraft Movie" ($957.9 million), "Lilo & Sitch" ($1.03 billion), and the homegrown Chinese animated record-breaker "Ne Zha 2" ($2 billion).

When all's said and done, "Demon Slayer" should at least pass the $800 million mark, which would make it one of the top 25 highest-grossing animated movies of all time, hovering around "Shrek the Third" ($808.3 million) and "Coco" ($814.6 million). That's very good company to be in.

Beyond that, it's increasingly rare for any outside movie to make major money in China these days. Hollywood has had to all but abandon its dependence on the Chinese box office, with very few international movies making meaningful money in that country anymore. In 2025, just eight movies produced outside of China have made at least $20 million, with "Jurassic World Rebirth" leading the pack with $79 million. In 2019, dozens of films hit that mark, with nine making over $100 million. Times have changed, and Chinese audiences have increasingly favored homegrown titles.

Dating back to 2017 when "Wolf Warrior 2" made a then-astounding $870 million, it was clear that things were changing in China. The change was accelerated during the pandemic, with the country doubling down on local movies while playing fewer outside titles.

Given that, the success of "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" in the early going is nothing shy of impressive. At this point, it's all but assured to cross the $100 million mark in China, becoming the first outside movie of the year to do so. At a time when so few movies succeed in China, "Demon Slayer" is breaking the mold. It earned the title of the highest-grossing anime movie in history back in September. At this point, the question is just how high can the franchise fly?

It's worth pointing out that this is just the start of a "Demon Slayer" movie trilogy. "Infinity Castle" demonstrated just how large that global audience is, with the movie opening to an astounding $70.6 million in the U.S. Sony Pictures has taken the Crunchyroll business very seriously, and one imagines that whatever comes next has the potential to be even bigger. Dare we throw the $1 billion question out there for the next "Demon Slayer" installment? At this point, it doesn't feel remotely out of bounds. This movie is a game changer.

Anime has been broadly popular for a long time, but in North America in particular, interest has been growing. "Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc" also found major success in the U.S. Between American interest and what's going on in China, it's crystal clear that anime hasn't reached its full, global potential yet.

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle" is in theaters now.