Crunchyroll/Sony’s Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is expected to reign in its second weekend at the box office, and no matter if it drops 70% or 80%, the pic should arrive at the century mark by Sunday, becoming, easily, the highest grossing anime movie at the domestic box office, unseating 1999’s Pokemon which ended its stateside run at $85.7M.
In fact, by tomorrow, Infinity Castle should notch that record; the Haruo Sotozaki directed movie already at a running cume of $81M. Running global total on Infinity Castles stands north of $467M.
Weekend 2 for Infinity Castle is expected to range from $14M to $21M with Sony keeping PLFs, but sharing Imax with Universal’s Him.
That second weekend plummet for Infinity Castle is par for the course when it comes to anime movies at the box office, which are notoriously front-loaded.
Currently, the Jordan Peele produced football horror movie, Him, starring Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers and Julia Fox is expected to file in the mid-to-high teens at 3,100 theaters, though behind Demon Slayer. Exhibition isn’t forecasting the movie to hit $20M. Him follows a young athlete who descends into a world of terror while training for a champion. No critical scores on Him yet. Sunday’s business is expected to slow down due to the pic’s targeted audience being pulled away by NFL games. First choice is best with males overall with women under 25 not far behind for the R-rated movie. Overall first choice is ahead of Blumhouse’s fall 2024 horror movie, Speak No Evil ($11.3M opening) and even with Woman in the Yard ($9.3M opening). No Rotten Tomatoes critics score on Him yet. Previews start at 2PM Thursday.
Sony has the Kogonada directed romance A Big Bold Beautiful Journey which they bought the world for around $50M at EFM 2024. The pic reps the first movie for Margot Robbie post 2023’s Barbie, that title Warner Bros’ highest grossing ever at $1.44 billion worldwide. Sony is forecasting $10M at 3,200 theaters, but other projections believe Big Bold Beautiful Journey will fall apart in the single digit range after a RT critical score of 46%. Pic was written by The Menu‘s Seth Reiss and follows two strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and have the chance to relive important moments from their pasts. That experience leads them to their present and gives them the opportunity to change their futures. Women over 25 are the best demo, slightly ahead of Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing ($17.2M) and A24’s The Materialists ($11.3M). Critical reviews in juxtaposition to box openings on those two films couldn’t be more disparate with Crawdads panned at 34% Rotten and Materialists at 79% certified fresh. Previews start at 4PM on Thursday.
Angel Studios’ sports drama The Senior from director Rod Lurie and starring Michael Chiklis is looking at low single digits with the hope that men over 25 show up. Chiklis plays Mike Flynt, who at 59, returns to the alma mater where he played college football field to finish unfinished business. Previews start at 12noon Thursday.
The post ‘Demon Slayer’ Heading To $100M Cume At Weekend Box Office; Ahead Of ‘Him’, Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell’s ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ appeared first on Deadline.
