"Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" and anime's biggest year yet
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What significant events marked the anime industry in 2025?
Hey Smarties, it's Kimberly. Make Me Smart is on a little holiday break, so today we're sharing a special bonus episode on one of my favorite topics, anime. Animation in general had a year in 2025. K-pop Demon Hunters became Netflix's most-watched movie ever, and the anime Demon Slayer Infinity Castle became the top-grossing international film ever at the North American box office. When Demon Slayer came out in theaters back in September, I spoke with Mitchell Berger, Executive Vice President of Global Commerce at Crunchyroll about it. You may have seen a snippet of our conversation on Marketplace's Instagram or TikTok feeds. Here's the full conversation.
Mitchell, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
How did 'Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle' perform at the box office?
So give us the numbers. How has Demon Slayer done? Yeah.
It has done exceptionally well. We're incredibly happy with what we've been able to do. We just opened this weekend in the U.S. at $70 million, which is fairly amazing. I think it's the highest opening day for an anime film ever in the U.S., the highest opening weekend for an anime film ever in the U.S., the highest September opening for any animation ever in the U.S., and the highest opening for an R-rated animation film. So lots of records that we've broken there.
What insights did Mitchell Berger share about the film's marketing strategy?
But even beyond that, I mean, we had $29 million in Latin America. We did $17 million in Europe, over $5 million in India. It's just been amazing to see the fans' reaction to this film around the world.
And just for clarification, when you say, like, the biggest animation opening ever, you're talking about Disney movies, Pixar, all of those ever? Yeah.
Anything. No animated film has ever opened bigger in the month of September than Demon Slayer in the U.S.
Some people were surprised, but were you surprised?
You know, we knew that the fans were there. I am always, I wouldn't say surprised.
What are the unique elements of the 'Demon Slayer' story?
I'm always gratified to see just how deep that love is. So I knew we had something special. I was incredibly happy to see how special it was. You know, we knew it opened in Southeast Asia very strong. We knew the fans were there. I'm just happy to see them all come out and show their support. So it was a fun weekend.
For those who aren't familiar with Demon Slayer, tell us a little bit about the story.
So Demon Slayer is a show that's been, it started as a manga. So it's a very successful manga series.
How does the theatrical release differ from streaming for anime?
It became an animated show a few years ago, five or six years ago. We've released three other films. Mugen Train probably is the one that most people have heard of that we had coming out of the pandemic. But it's a long-running show on the Crunchyroll service that we're now ending the manga story arc with three films in theaters. It's a really good show. It's a little bit of family. It's a little bit of killing demons. It's a little bit of redemption. There's a little bit of something and lots of action. So there's something for everyone in there.
Anime has been gaining in popularity, of course, but is kind of a relatively new genre for a lot of American audiences. So tell us about the marketing for this film and the run-up to the release.
So I think one thing I'll lightly correct you on just because I love to tell people this. Anime, for us, it's not a genre. It's a medium. It is a way of storytelling. And it's easy to, you know, I think folks like to talk about genre. But what I love to tell people is within the medium of anime, there's all kinds of genres. There's action. There's romance.
What impact does 'Demon Slayer' have on the perception of anime?
There's whatever you want. Slice of life. For Demon Slayer... I tell you, if you want giant robots, we got that. If you want people throwing fireballs at each other, we got that. If you're really interested in what it's like to be a calligrapher living on the northern shore of Japan, we've got a show about that as well.
I've seen that show. It's literally something for everyone.
It's a great show. So it's just there's something for everyone.
How can newcomers to anime get involved in the community?
For Demon Slayer itself, I think what was really important to us was it's such a passionate fan base. For us, the marketing was about reaching those fans and saying, look, just know that this film is here.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What significant events marked the anime industry in 2025?
0:00–0:50
2
How did 'Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle' perform at the box office?
0:50–1:25
3
What insights did Mitchell Berger share about the film's marketing strategy?
1:25–2:02
4
What are the unique elements of the 'Demon Slayer' story?
2:02–2:31
5
How does the theatrical release differ from streaming for anime?
2:31–3:34
6
What impact does 'Demon Slayer' have on the perception of anime?
3:34–3:55
7
How can newcomers to anime get involved in the community?
3:55–4:53
8
What future plans does Crunchyroll have for theatrical releases?
4:53–12:22