Every time Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie Mugen Train breaks another box-office record, you can’t help but think that may be the final record to fall at the feet of this titan of a movie. Surely there has to be limits on the film’s success. Right? If there are limits, the film hasn’t reached them just yet. After just over 2 weeks in cinemas, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train has broken yet another record, surpassing the entire box-office performance of Makoto Shinkai’s latest film Weathering With You to become the 10th highest-grossing film of all time in Japan.
劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限列車編、公開17日間で観客動員 1189万1254人（興行収入 157億9936万5450円）と連日大変多くの方に映画館へ足を運んでいただいており本当にありがとうございます。お一人おひとりのご観劇への感謝と共にこれからも興行を続けて参ります。何卒よろしくお願い致します。#鬼滅の刃
— 鬼滅の刃公式 (@kimetsu_off) November 2, 2020
It’s difficult to comprehend just how successful this film has been in such a short amount of time. In a tweet from the official twitter account for the series, the film reported its latest box office statistics that confirmed the film had been been seen by 11,891,254 people with a culmulative box office return of 15,799,365,450yen from 17 days in cinemas. Weathering With You ended 2019 as the top film at the Japanese box office in 2019, ending with a total box office revenue of 14,190,000yen following its release in July which made that film the 13th highest-grossing of all time. And considering the film is still topping charts and has only been in cinemas for a few weeks, it’s easy to assume that the film won’t settle for 10th place in the all-time rankings.
Although it at first didn’t seem possible, since although the film was highly anticipated it was expected that the film’s box office receipts would be front-loaded by series fans wanting the latest installment before dropping off, could the film break the all-time box office record in Japan. As things stand, the highest-grossing film of all time at the Japanese box office continues to be Spirited Away, with a massive 30,800,000yen at the Japanese box office. Considering that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train has already surpassed 50% of that total in just a few weeks with little sign of slowing down, the question remains: can this surpass the long-standing record?
Never say never!