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Demon Slayer Film Passes Spirited Away as #1 All-Time Japanese Film Worldwide

The Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime film has sold a total of 27.45 million tickets and earned a cumulative total of 37,776,680,150 yen (about US$359.7 million) in Japan.

The film also ranked at #3 in South Korea over the previous weekend, and has earned a cumulative total of 7,308,202,280 South Korean won (about US$6.58 million) since it opened there on January 27. The film was originally scheduled to open in South Korea in December, but it was delayed to January 27 due to concerns about the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

As of February 14, the film has earned a cumulative 626,387,204 New Taiwan dollars (about US$22.48 million) in Taiwan. It has earned 124.43 million baht (about US$4.14 million) in Thailand as of January 31, 29,100,868 Hong Kong dollars (about US$3.75 million) in Hong Kong as of December 6, 2.42 million Singapore dollars (about US$1.83 million) in Singapore as of December 31, and 16,160,018,000 dong (about US$701,800) in Vietnam as of February 21.

The film has earned the equivalent of more than US$399.18 million from these territories alone. This total pushes it past the current US$383,397,782 worldwide box office total of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (from the website The Numbers, although the currency exchange rates have varied significantly over the past 20 years), and thus becoming the #1 highest-earning Japanese film of all time worldwide.

After 12 consecutive weeks at #1 in the box office in Japan, the film dropped to #2 during the January 9-10 weekend, its 13th weekend. The film returned to the #1 spot in its 14th weekend, but was #3 in tickets sold as of the February 20-21 weekend.

Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train began screening in 38 IMAX theaters in Japan on October 16. The film had the highest opening weekend globally for the October 16-18 weekend. The film sold 3,424,930 tickets and earned 4,623,117,450 yen (about US$43.85 million) in Japan in its first three days. The film sold 910,507 tickets and earned over 1,268,724,700 yen (about US$12.03 million) on its opening day alone, making it the highest weekday opening day in Japan ever. Mugen Train began holding immersive MX4D and 4DX screenings on Saturday, December 26.

The main staff members of the previous television anime returned for the sequel film. TOHO and Aniplex are handling the film's distribution in Japan. Funimation and Aniplex of America will screen the film in theaters in North America in early 2021.

Sources: Variety (Patrick Frater), The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, comScore via KOFIC, Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, Thailand Box Office & Entertainment, FILMART, The Straits Times (Jan Lee), Box Office Vietnam