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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibaanime will be back this year withthe first movie of theInfinity Castletrilogy, and Sony has high expectations for it. It’s been a while sinceDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibadropped a movie that is the official sequel to the story, and not a compilation movie that also previews the next season (the last and only time it happened was whenDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Infinity Trainwas released in 2020).
Sony’s presentation at CES 2025 had some good news for anime fans. While the event is not focused on this niche, the company still managed to announce aGhost Tsushima: Legendsanime adaptationand the"return" of Crunchyroll Manga, a manga service deactivated by the company in 2023 — the new service features the same name but is likely to be a revamped version of what Crunchyroll Manga once was. All of this demonstrate how important the anime front has become to Sony, even though the industry might have far-fetched expectations for this sector.
The Hollywood Reporterspoke with Sony’s president and COO Hiroki Totoki, Crunchyroll’s CEO Rahul Purini and Aniplex’s president Atsuhiro Iwakami, and they dropped a few words on what they are expecting from the next installment in theDemon Slayeranime adaptation. In their opinion,the new movie could exceed Mugen Train’s international performance— that’s a humble way to say they expect it to become the highest-grossing Japanese movie of all time.
According to Iwakami, sinceMugen Trainwas released during the most critical phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (in 2020-2021), the movie could have earned even more. Despite all the challenges,Mugen Trainearned $49.5 million at the US box office, and $473 million worldwide (this statistic probably includes the Japanese box office, but it’s not clear), and became the highest-grossing Japanese movie.
His statement isaligned with what Toho executives think. Here’s what he toldTHR:
Since the previous release, the global fan base for theDemon SlayerIP has grown significantly, so we are hopeful that the new film will exceed that performance in overseas markets. There are many more opportunities for Sony companies to collaborate around anime at a global scale.
More Information Shared By Sony
Weighting The Companies' Perspective
RegardingMugen Train,while Iwakami’s reasoning makes sense, we should also consider the possibility that the movie did so well, not only because it was the official sequel to the series but due to the pandemic itself.Demon Slayerpeaked in Japan in 2020, and it might have a connection not only with people staying more time at home, but also with the fact that it was virtually the “only big new thing” going on at the time. That’s something we will learn whenInfinity Castlepremieres, but even ifMugen Train’s success is not directly related to the pandemic in itself, the task of surpassing its box office is not an easy one.
Highest-Grossing Japanese Films Worldwide
Only Anime Movies Currently Rank in the Top 5
BeforeMugen Train, the highest-grossing box office for a Japanese movie was Makoto Shinkai’sYour Name, which had surpassed Hayao Miyazaki’sSpirited Awayin 2016-2017.Mugen Trainis far above the second place, though: while it earned over $507 million,Your Namemade over $398 million.
This year, Miyazaki’sThe Boy and The Heronjoined the top 5 highest-grossing Japanese movies. Curiously, the list comprises only animations (these are estimates):
Demon Slayeris available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix in the US and other territories.
