Only no one had a weekend of September 12, 2025, circulating on their calendar to potentially be a huge framework in box office. And yet, here, we are staring at a barrel on one of the most unexpectedly stable weekends of the year, led by the record debut of "Dem Democrat: Kimmetu does not have a haunt for infinity".

The latest large screen entrance to the popular Anime Property has finally arrived in North American theaters over the weekend, attracting a stunning $ 70.6 million. Treasury estimates have attracted about $ 50 million before the box office Whatever, it would be clear, it would have been incredible. It is now ranked as the biggest opening ever for anime film in the United States, at the top of "Pokémon: the first film-Mewtwo striking back" ($ 31 million) back in 1999. It is also the biggest open weekend ever for an Rank -based Animated Film, as well as the largest international film opening.

Needless to say, this is greater than the expected agreement. Well, anime movies have been increasing in the United States since "Democrat Demer: Kimmetu NO JAIBA - Movie: Mugen Train" became unexpectedly huge hit In 2020 and 2021, opening $ 21 million with a $ 50 million finish. However, the opening of $ 70 million removes the need for any qualifications. This is a huge open weekend, period.

So what has passed right? How did the "Castle of Infinity" succeed from all expectations? We look at the biggest reasons why the new film "Demon Sliper" ruled the box office. Let's get into that.

The audience's response to the "Castle for Infinity" was, in a word, Ellwell. The new film is currently boasting a very impressive 97% critical approval rating of "wounded tomatoes" to go with an almost perfect 98% audience. In addition, it can boast of A on Cinemascore, which remains one of the best tools to measure the satisfaction of the audience. It can also be a great indicator of how a given movie will have weeks on Sunday. That said, Anime films tend to go down quite hard after opening weekends, as loyalists come out early. Even so, this debut was so big that even the record fall would hardly be important.

"Democrat Slejer", like a franchise, already has a large, built -in audience. It always helps when it comes to approaching people in movies these days. In fact, that's how it is "Conjuring: The last rituals" was able to publish their record opening of $ 194 million last week alone. But it is not always a guarantee. When the latest entrance to the current property really delivers the goods and fulfills them - or exceeds - the expectations of the audience, that is when something really special can happen, and that's exactly what we saw here.

It doesn't hurt that the film has been playing abroad for weeks, helping to build excitement for the North American fanbase, who were eager to see what all the fuss was about.

On the one hand, it proved to be a pretty busy weekend. New editions like "Downton Opatija: The Grand Final" ($ 18.1 million) and the "Long Walk" ($ 11.5 million) played on their audience, while the "conjunctioning: last ritual" ($ 25.6 million) was held on a piece of a crowd of horror on their second round. There were also noticeable repetitions such as "Toy Story" ($ 3.5 million) and "The Sound of Music" ($ 1.6 million). Elsewhere, the sequel to "Spinal Fountain II: The end continues" ($ 1.6 million) debuting to the little Janfari.

The point is, although the audience had no lack of options this weekend, there was absolutely nothing to compete directly with the "Castle for Infinity". "Democrat Demer" films have been making money for several years at US box officeThus, there is undoubtedly an audience to serve. Anime is a pretty specific thing, and none of the other films with r evaluation of the market is currently not even remote in the same genre. Also, there are not much there at the moment for animations, except for re -publishing the "Toy Story". In principle, the autumn film season can be dead compared to summer, especially in September, so Sony's credit for choosing the date of release perfect for "Castle for Infinity". With the benefit of retrospective, it is difficult to imagine a better scenario.

One thing that should not be overlooked is the fact that Sony Pictures is now dealing with "Demon Slayer" films in North America. Sony bought Crunchyroll as early as 2020 Before combining funimation and crunchyroll in 2022. The studio has noticed the opportunity to invest in the growing market that is anime and pays off. According to his credit, Sony also puts his huge resources in these films, despite just throwing them into the cinema and hopes that they only magically shop (or something along those lines).

Almost every week, we see films from smaller distributors, be it Blacker Street or Mubi, that struggle to compete in the domestic cashier. It is difficult to attract people's attention these days, and smaller companies have less resources. Crunchyroll, on its own, may not have reduced noise like this. But Sony has really helped give the anime the brand a real footage in the cinema, starting an effective, targeted marketing campaign that has reached the predicted audience in a way that no one could predict it.

It is difficult to imagine such an outcome without the support of the main studio. Similarly, it is easy to imagine a great Hollywood player spoiling the bag in this situation. So, a loan where the loan is due, Sony did so "the castle of infinity". The numbers do not lie.

"Infinity Castle" was invoiced as the first part in the trilogy of the final films that will bring the saga "Dem Demo Slayer" closer. Things are so open these days that the real end is, in itself, a big deal. Although we certainly do not suggest that this is Quite as big as "Avengers: Infinite War" drags $ 2 billion While raising the ball for "Avengers: Endgame", there is something to say about galvanizing the fanbase around a great event within the desired franchise. That's approximately what descended here.

Also, it is not only in the United States to date, Infinite Castle has made more than $ 450 million worldwide, including over $ 200 million in native Japan. That means it's one of the 10 biggest films in the year globally, overtaking "Captain America: The Brave New World" ($ 415 million worldwide). This film is a great deal, with Sony, Crunchyroll and all involved in the possibility of reporting it effectively with fans. The end is near, and this is the beginning of the end. You can only imagine what that means for the next two films.

Will the whole company only continue to get bigger and larger? Time will say. It certainly does not seem impossible, because the arrow seems to only continue to show.

Anime has been very popular for a long time, especially in Japan, but also grows in popularity around the world. It's a little niche - or at least seen as a false interest - in the United States for a long time, however, Return to the days of toonami. That said, in recent years it became crystal clear that Anime is now more mainstream than in North America and can no longer be written off as something that appeals to a limited crowd. This would be silly in the light of what the "demon descent" had just accomplished.

To be clear, in the Pandemic era, every movie that makes $ 70 million or more for a weekend at home is nothing shy of impressive. It just doesn't happen so often. The case, no animated film has had an opening greater than the "Infinite Castle" in 2025. If it doesn't scream mainstream, I don't know what it is doing. Much of the way the superheroes eventually moved to the wider cultural lexicon, it seems that anime, in some cases, is at least approaching a similar penetration point.

The signs were there. The "Boy and the Heroton" were unexpectedly at the top of the box office in 2023. Recently, Netflix has achieved Surprised number one hit with "KPOP Demon Hunters", Although the film was already available for months. It has also become the biggest film in Netflix history, overtaking "red reporting". This open weekend can be looked back as a watershed for several years from now. For the moment, however, it simply sends a signal to Hollywood in general: Anime is here for real. Ignoring it would be unreasonable.

"Demons Slejer: Kimmetu not Jaiba - a castle for infinity" is now in cinemas.