Demon Slayer Infinity Castle tops US box office in second weekend

Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie Infinity Castle held onto the top spot at the U.S. box office in its second weekend, industry trackers reported, as the anime epic crossed the $100 million mark domestically and continued to pile up hundreds of millions worldwide. The film, the first of a planned trilogy concluding the popular manga’s Infinity Castle arc, earned roughly $16 million to $17.3 million in its sophomore frame, despite a steep weekend-to-weekend decline from its record-setting $70 million U.S. opening.

Box office monitors and studio tallies put Infinity Castle’s North American total at about $104.7 million after two weekends, while global tallies from industry estimates place its worldwide cume near $550 million to $555 million. Estimates varied across outlets, with some weekend projections for the film ranging from $14 million to $21 million; the most widely cited actuals for the second weekend were about $17.3 million, signaling a drop of roughly 75 to 77 percent, a pattern analysts say is common for frontloaded anime releases driven by intense presales.

“It was driven primarily by presales rather than walk-ups,” one theatrical...