Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll’s newest animated film has hit the theaters, breaking box office records. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle premiered in theaters Friday, bringing in $70 million over its first weekend as of Sunday. This surpassed the previous record holder of biggest anime opening, the 1999 anime movie Pokémon: the First Movie-Mewtwo Strikes Back that garnered $31 million. The anime also broke records as the highest-grossing domestic debut of the year as of now for an animated film. Demon Slayer is a popular Japanese anime and manga series following the plot of a young boy who joins a demon slaying organization after his sister is turned into a demon. With over 220 million copies sold, the series has become a global franchise and one of the most popular animes. Starring Channing Tatum, the anime beat out other Hollywood films such as Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and The Long Walk. Sony’s success with Demon Slayers rides on the waves of the continued popularity of animated films; KPop Demon Hunters, also produced by Sony, experienced record-breaking success earlier this year. “Put ‘Demon’ in your title and you’re good to go,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst at ComScore to Variety.
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