Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train has made a strong impact overseas while making its way to #2 in terms of sales on its opening weekend in the United States, but still trailed by Mortal Kombat.
The return of movie theater sales numbers has begun, with cinema returning to opening weekends across the globe. This weekend saw two interesting new films release in Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, each offering vastly different content, but both topping the charts, kicking Godzilla vs. Kong down to third place for the first time since its release in March.
Topping the charts was Mortal Kombat, the video-game phenomenon known for its over-the-top violence came to the silver screen for another go at making a video game movie right, seizing $22.5 million in sales in North America. This comes despite being available to HBO Max subscribers in-app.
This total earned it the second-highest opening-weekend numbers since Godzilla vs. Kong’s $31 million last month. Meanwhile, Godzilla vs. Kong ended in third with $4.2 million, reaching $86.6 million in lifetime sales to this point in North America, with over $400 million in revenue worldwide. This 44.5% drop could have also been hampered by HBO Max availability, where it is currently still available through the end of April.
The more interesting story from this weekend comes from an anime action-adventure film with manga roots which broke the record for the largest foreign-language film debut in North America, receiving $21 million in its opening weekend across 1,600 theaters.
More impressively, this U.S. release comes following an already massive international outing that has Demon Slayer the Movie’s overall ticket sales sitting at $407.7 million, including taking the title of Japan’s highest-grossing film of all time.
Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train comes following a successful 26-episode debut in 2019, telling the story of a boy out for revenge after demons kill his family and steal his sister. A second season is meant to arrive on streaming platforms sometime in 2021.
Rounding out the list was the film Nobody in fourth place and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon taking the fifth spot.
