We had another stunner of a weekend at the box office.<\/p>\n
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba \u2013 the Movie: Infinity Castle shattered the record for biggest opening weekend domestic gross for an anime movie, hauling in an estimated $70 million (per CNN<\/a>). <\/p>\n That’s more than double the previous benchmark held by 1999’s Pok\u00e9mon: The First Movie, which grossed $31 million in its opening weekend. <\/p>\n It’s also Sony’s biggest opening of not just 2025, but also bigger than any of its hits last year.<\/p>\n Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, told CNN that Infinity Castle is a “box office juggernaut.” It now holds the record for the sixth-largest September opening ever at the box office.<\/p>\n What makes this performance even more impressive is the marketing efficiency behind it.<\/p>\n – YouTube www.youtube.com<\/a> <\/p>\n Low Marketing Spend vs. Big Fanbase<\/p>\n As Deadline<\/a> points out, the press and advertising spend on the project was relatively low, at around $10 million to $12 million. I saw a few Fandango event-style trailers at my local AMC, but it seems the most targeted ads ran on Crunchyroll, where the film’s audience already lives. <\/p>\n Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of analytics firm Box Office Theory, said the anime genre has “been building to a performance like this for several years” (via CNN<\/a>).<\/p>\n So, the fanbase was there. It just needed the right project to unite around.<\/p>\n Second-Week Box Office Drops<\/p>\n Meanwhile, last weekend’s champion took a tumble. <\/p>\n As we’ve learned The Hollywood Reporter’s story, the second week of a film’s theatrical release is now being considered the “real opening weekend<\/a>.”<\/p>\n