The animated film “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train” released in the US on April 23, 2012, has become the top grossing film in the US.
Box Office Mojo, a U.S. movie box office information site, reported that it recorded 6.7 million dollars in box office revenue on the weekend of May 1 and 2, the second weekend of its release, and took the top spot for the same week.
This is the first time in 22 years since “Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back!” in 1999 that a Japanese movie took the top spot. The site reported that “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train” is the third highest-grossing Japanese animated film after “Mewtwo Strikes Back!” and “Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One” in 2000.
The film was released in the U.S. in about 1,500 theaters on the 23rd and recorded a box-office revenue of $15.9 million, ranking second for the first time in the North American box-office ranking. In the same ranking, it was the highest opening gross ever for a foreign language film.
As of April 25, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train” has grossed 39.78 billion yen in Japan, and is just 220 million yen away from 40 billion yen.
