Demon Slayer has risen in the shonen ranks to become one of the biggest properties created by the publication in almost record time. Despite the series ending in 2020, the story of Tanjiro and Nezuko has resonated amongst fans in such a way that Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has blown past expectations. Clearing over $70 million USD in its North American opening weekend, the movie made “mincemeat” of previous entries in the shonen franchise, such as Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, Demon Slayer: To The Swordsmith Village Arcand Demon Slayer: To The Hashira Training Arc. With this major success, the anime franchise will make big changes to the entertainment world.
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train remains the number one anime movie of all time, but with this wild U.S. opening, the first film of the series looks to be holding that crown for only a limited amount of time. Mugen Train’s opening weekend in North America was decent enough, clearing over $20 million USD, which made Infinity Castle’s start all the more impressive in the West. Even die-hard anime fans might not have seen it coming that the first part of the finale trilogy would make over three times more than its previous biggest entry. Hollywood is sure to take notice of this trend in the anime world on multiple fronts.
Anime Continues To Rise
As the old saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and in Demon Slayer’s case, the success of the Infinity Castle spells exceptionally good news for the anime world as a whole. Since the COVID pandemic, the anime genre is one that has seen serious gains, thanks in part to previous quarantines that had homebound civilians clamoring for new entertainment. The most fascinating part of the trend is that when the pandemic ended, the desire for more anime and manga continued on.
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle becoming the number one movie for its opening weekend in North America is one thing, but garnering over $70 million USD is something else entirely. This figure makes Tanjiro’s latest film one of the biggest arrivals to theaters in 2025 and is sure to garner the entertainment industry’s attention when it comes to bringing more anime to the silver screen. This year will see Crunchyroll bringing Chainsaw Man The Movie: The Reze Arc to theaters as well, so it will be interesting to see how Denji does and whether Tanjiro’s lead-in might help the bloody franchise that much more.
A Live-Action Hashira
It’s amazing that we haven’t had a live-action Demon Slayer film as of yet, though we have had our fair share of stage plays. Japan and North America alike have created live-action iterations of some of the biggest shonen series, but the story of the Hashira has yet to receive a similar treatment. We have to imagine that Hollywood is thinking of dollar signs when it comes to adding its own take on Tanjiro’s story of revenge. The likes of My Hero Academia, Narutoand Mobile Suit Gundam haven’t hit the same heights as Demon Slayer at the box office, but have Western adaptations in the works all the same. Nothing has been confirmed in this regard, though we have to imagine that there are already behind-the-scenes meetings when it comes to Demon Slayer’s future.
Netflix’s One Piece has changed the tide for live-action anime adaptations, which is ironic considering the Straw Hats are about the biggest competitors of the Demon Slayer Corps. We have to imagine that, should Demon Slayer receive a live-action adaptation, creator Koyoharu Gotouge would be involved similarly to Eiichiro Oda with the Netflix adaptation. Speaking of creator Gotouge and Demon Slayer’s future…
A Demon Slayer Sequel
Since Demon Slayer’s manga ended in 2020, there has been no word of Shueisha bringing back the world of the Demon Slayer Corps. As of the writing of this article, Koyoharu Gotouge hasn’t revealed plans of creating a sequel and/or spin-off of the series, though we have to imagine that revisiting the universe would be a profitable decision for Shueisha to make. Without diving into spoiler territory, Demon Slayer’s ending is a fairly conclusive one, though as is the case with the recent Jujutsu Kaisen sequel, Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulothere are ways to keep a universe’s ball rolling.
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