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When Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train came out in 2020 while the world was still coming out of COVID lockdown, no one knew if people would go to the theaters. Well, people showed up, in droves. The film, which was a direct sequel to the first season of the Demon Slayer anime series, was a smash hit and finished grossing over $507 million worldwide. It finished the year as the top grossing film of 2020 and it marked the first time a non-American production finished at the top of the global box office for the year. It was the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, taking the mantle away from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

Popverse spoke with the director of the Mugen Train film and all of the Demon Slayer anime series, Haruo Sotozaki at San Diego Comic-Con 2025. Given the past success, did that change the expectations of what Infinity Castle could be capable of.

“Of course, we’re very, very honored and flattered that so many people came to see the film, allowing it to renew different [box office] records,” answered Sotozaki-san. “I think we have built upon all of the accumulated knowledge from the different arcs that we have produced in the past, including the Swordsman’s Village and how that leads up to the Infinity Castle.” 

Since the Mugen Train film, the Demon Slayer has spread like a wildfire, especially when you consider that the manga series were released in Weekly Shonen Jump  2016-2020 and the first season of the anime, produced by Ufotable, began airing in April of 2019. 

After the Mugen Train arc, the second half of the second season adapted was the Entertainment District arc, The Swordsman Village Arc spanned Season 3, and finally the Hashira Training arc in Season 4. With the decision to take The Infinity Castle arc to the big screen into a trilogy of films, Ufotable is hoping to finish on a monster high. In Japan, where the first Infinity Castle film was released in July, earned over 10 billion yen in eight days, breaking the previous record set by Mugen Train.

“I think this is kind of the culmination of what we have learned and I think it should be really exciting for fans once they see it on the big screen.” 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle hits US theaters September 12. 

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