Chainsaw Man The Movie Reze Arc tops North American box office

Chainsaw Man The Movie Reze Arc opened in North American theaters on Oct. 24 and delivered a surprise box-office victory, topping the weekend with roughly $17.2 million in estimated ticket sales after $3.4 million in Thursday previews. The animated film, distributed in North America by Sony and Crunchyroll and produced by MAPPA, also pushed the global gross past the $100 million mark, reinforcing anime's growing commercial clout in international markets.

The feature adapts the Reze arc of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga and continues the story introduced in the 2022 television season. Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, the roughly 100-minute film follows teen devil hunter Denji as a brief, tender romance with a café worker named Reze turns into a violent confrontation involving the Bomb Devil. Critics and audiences praised the movie's blend of intimate character scenes and large-scale action, while viewers rewarded it with high audience survey scores and an A grade on exit polls.

Box-office trackers show Chainsaw Man outperformed rival new releases and holdovers. It finished ahead of the horror sequel Black Phone 2, which earned about $13 million in its second weekend, and the romantic...