On December 2, the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train film has won the 45th Hochi Film Award‘s animation category.
On Wednesday, the Hochi Shimbun newspaper revealed the new milestone achieved by Mugen Train. Several animated films were nominated in the category, including non-Japanese animated films.
This includes Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s New Dinosaur, ON-GAKU: Our Sound, Onward, and Marona’s Fantastic Tale.
Also nominated for the award are Violet Evergarden: The Movie, Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare, The Addams Family, Missing Link, and Stand By Me Doraemon 2.
“Demon Slayer” is defying gravity
In just 45 days, Mugen Train has sold a total of 20,532,177 tickets (for 27,512,483,050 yen or roughly USD 265 million). The announcement was made on November 29.
This time, the movie has surpassed James Cameron’s Titanic. Demon Slayer now becomes the second highest-earning film of Japan, defeating the 26.2 billion yen garnered by the American film.
Furthermore, with 30.8 billion yen achieved digits, only Spirited Away now sits above Mugen Train.
Also, Demon Slayer surpassed China’s Legend of Deification as the highest-grossing animated film worldwide in 2020. On the other hand, the anime movie also displaced Dolittle as the #6 film worldwide in 2020.
Undoubtedly, this'll be just the start of its winning streak! https://t.co/AyO56j7zHW
— Anime News Network (@Anime) December 2, 2020
The mesmerizing feat achieved by the film
On October 16, Mugen Train started screening in 38 IMAX theaters in Japan. For the October 16-18 weekend, the film had the highest opening weekend globally.
Moreover, in its first three days hitting the big screens, the film immediately sold 3,424,930 tickets and earned 4,623,117,450 yen (roughly USD 43.85 million) in Japan.
On its opening day alone, the film sold 910,507 tickets. It earned over 1,268,724,700 yen (roughly USD 12.03 million), making it Japan’s highest weekday opening day ever.
The previous prominent staff members of the television anime returned for the sequel film. Handling the film’s distribution in Japan are TOHO and Aniplex.
Meanwhile, in early 2021, Funimation and Aniplex will screen the movie in theaters in North America.
Image courtesy of AnimeTV チェーン/YouTube Screenshot