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To say that the first Demon Slayer Infinity Castle movie has been a hit is a bit of an understatement. We already knew that it was on track to become the biggest Japanese movie of all time (surpassing Demon Slayer Mugen Train along the way), but it has done something no anime movie has done for 26 years – it had a bigger opening weekend at the US box office than Pokémon: The First Movie in its opening weekend.

On its way to becoming the number one movie in America on its opening weekend, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle raked in an estimated $70 million at the box office. That is more than double what Pokémon: The First Movie pulled in back in 1999, but it still requires a little bit of context. During its opening weekend, Pokémon made $31 million; Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle made $33 million on Friday alone. It has clocked in the sixth-highest September opening weekend of all time in the US, mainly on the back of fan enthusiasm.

There are a couple of ways to interpret this record-breaking run at the US box office for Demon Slayer. First, we need to acknowledge that anime is having a moment and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is a symbol of anime’s push into the mainstream. After it had a huge opening in Japan, word-of-mouth for its overseas release was fuelling the hype for when fans got to see it in the US. Ufotable also pushed themselves to the limit to bring the winding corridors of the Infinity Castle to life, making this a visual spectacle that deserved the big screen treatment.

Will Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle have the box office legs to make a longer run in the US? That’s what we’re all waiting to see. However, one point that is important to remember – we’re just a month away from the Chainsaw Man Reze Arc movie getting a US release. Can it repeat Demon Slayer’s success? That’s what we’re really waiting to see.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic