Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train has dethroned Mortal Kombat as the number one movie in America at the box office. Last weekend, the Warner Bros. adaptation of the hit video game franchise took home the top spot with a weekend gross of over 23 million dollars. Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train came in second with over 21 million dollars.
For a pandemic-era weekend at the box office, those numbers are almost unheard of. Ticket sales were much lower this weekend overall, but Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer fought tooth and nail for that top spot. It all ended with Demon Slayer beating Mortal Kombat just slightly with 6.4 million dollars. Mortal Kombat finished the weekend off with 6.2 million dollars.
The first-ever Demon Slayer movie has made a total of 34.1 million dollars in two weeks and has become the third highest-grossing anime film in the U.S. Globally, it fares even better. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train has broken records to become the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan with a gross of over 368 million dollars domestically. It is also now the highest-grossing anime film of all time globally, pulling in 423 million dollars.
It is very rare for a movie that debuted number 2 at the box office in its first weekend to then take the top spot in its second weekend, but there are a number of reasons as to why Demon Slayer: Mugen Train was able to exceed expectations. First of all, Mortal Kombat is also available to stream on HBO Max on top of its theatrical release so there's less of a need to run to the theater, while Dragon Slayer: Mugen Train is exclusively available theatrically. Demon Slayer also seems to be receiving a lot of word-of-mouth attention.
Next weekend sees the release of the Billy Crystal directed comedy Here Today, as well as the latest Guy Richie outing, Wrath of Man, so only time will tell if Demon Slayer: Mugen Train will be able to hold the top spot for another week or succumb to the exciting new releases.