The excellent and massively popular anime Demon Slayer has had as successful of a run at the box office as you can get in Japan — the movie adaptation of its “Mugen Train” manga arc is the highest-grossest film in the country’s history. Now, the film is finally coming to North America, starting with a theatrical run in the US and Canada on April 23rd with distribution from Aniplex of America and Funimation.
The film’s official title, in true anime style, is a bit of a mouthful: Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train. But that hasn’t stopped the film from its box office domination. It broke the $100 million milestone in Japan in just 10 days, and it’s since grossed nearly $400 million in the country alone, beating out Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and Titanic for the all-time record.
The film is rated R and runs for one hour and 57 minutes, ensuring that fans of the fantasy anime’s beautifully animated, high-octane combat will get to see some bloody and well-choreographed battle scenes. There will also be 4DX and IMAX screenings, and both dubbed and subtitled versions. According to Aniplex and Funimation, those interested in watching Mugen Train at home will have to wait until June 22nd, when digital purchase and rentals will be distributed on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, the Microsoft Store, Vudu, and the PlayStation Store.
For those unfamiliar, Demon Slayer is a fantasy manga authored by Koyoharu Gotouge that centers on the trials of young swordsman Tanjiro Kamado, who sets out on a quest to return his sister to her human form after she’s transformed into a demon. Mugen Train specifically covers a middle chunk of the manga’s storyline, following the anime’s season 1 adaptation of the narrative’s beginning and first few arcs. The anime is produced by renown studio Ufotable, which also animated the film and is working on the show’s second season to premiere sometime in 2021.
