'Demon Slayer' Continues to Defy the Odds & Break Records Actorsvaultpro

September is looking more like summer as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle ruled the box office with a massive $70 million opening weekend, according to Variety. This not only gave Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle the sixth-biggest opening weekend in September, but it is Sony Pictures’ biggest opening weekend since June 2, 2023, when Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opened. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle also shattered the record for the biggest opening weekend for a film based on an anime, breaking the 25-year record previously held by Pokémon: The Movie back in 1999, and has now grossed $352 million worldwide.

The Conjuring: Last Rites came in second at the box office with $26.1 million, seeing a steep 69% decline but bringing its worldwide total to $332 million. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opened at number three at the box office, bringing in $18.1 million domestically, which is $2 million more than the previous film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, which opened back in 2022 but down from $31 million opening weekend the first Downton Abbey made in 2019.

The adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk settled for fourth place with $11.5 million. Fortunately for Lionsgate, The Long Walk only cost $20 million, so if word of mouth is strong and the movie performs well, it can recoup its budget. Rounding out the Top 5 was the 30th anniversary re-release of Toy Story, which brought in $3.5 million. The other major new release this weekend, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, sadly opened at number nine with just $1.6 million over its opening weekend. See the full top 10 breakdown below:

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle–$70 million (Week 1)

The Conjuring: Last Rites–$26.1 million (Week 2) / $131 million Domestic Total

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale-$18.1 million (Week 1)

The Long Walk–$11.5 million (Week 1)

Toy Story (30th Anniversary Re-release)-$3.5 million (Week 1)

Weapons–$2.7 million (Week 6) / $146 million Domestic Total

Hamilton (2025 Re-Release)-$2.2 million (Week 2) / $14.9 million Domestic Total

Freakier Friday–$2.1 million (Week 6) / $91 million

Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues–$1.6 million (Week 1)

The Sound of Music (60th Anniversary Re-release)-$1.4 million (Week 1)

September Box Office Boom

The Downton family at the horse races

Focus Features

At $70 million, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle is now the sixth-biggest opening weekend for the month of September, one week after The Conjuring: Last Rites landed the fourth-biggest opening weekend of September. After a rather slow end of the summer, this has been an incredible rebound at the box office. In fact, the weekend box office is up 57% from the same time last weekend, which saw Beetlejuice Beeltejuice land $51.3 million in its second weekend, where that weekend’s big new release, Speak No Evil, opened to $11.3 million, less than The Long Walk.

In other box office news, The Fantastic Four: First Steps finally exited the Top 10 after eight weeks of release, just narrowly missing the number ten spot and settling for eleventh place with $1.4 million. It has now brought in $272 million domestically and $517 million worldwide. It is the 22nd-highest-grossing film in the MCU, ranking between Iron Man 2 ($312 million) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($259 million). Worldwide, it is number 27th, above Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($476 million) and just behind Ant-Man ($519 million). The question is whether Disney and Marvel can secure $8 million to surpass Ant-Man at the worldwide box office.

Now all eyes will be on whether Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle can hold the number one spot or if the film will be front-loaded in its opening weekend. This tends to happen with big franchise projects whose loyal fanbase comes out in massive numbers for the first weekend, but then a massive drop-off happens in the second weekend. This weekend sees Him, from producer Jordan Peele, open alongside the Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell-led A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Can either take the number one spot, will The Conjuring: Last Rites see another spike in interest as Halloween draws closer, or will Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle defy the odds and hold onto first place?