The pandemic has been a wet blanket on the the movie industry for months now, dousing any enthusiasm for stepping outside for a trip to a theater. To put it simply — the big screen wasn’t worth the risk of catching COVID-19. That doesn’t mean there isn't a craving for the experience and the response to the anime movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie Mugen Train is proof of that.
The movie is a continuation of the wildly popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime that released in 2019 and months stuck in a global pandemic did little to blunt any enthusiasm for its release in Japan on October 16. When tickets released online, an influx of fans looking to preorder tickets took down several theater websites in the country; the site for TOHO Cinemas, one of Japan’s largest theater chains, managed to survive the wave of preorders, but queues for tickets at one point reached more than 200,000. Anticipation for the movie swelled to the point that shortly before the movie released TOHO Cinemas announced that it would be lifting seating restrictions across all of its theaters for opening weekend October 16 - 18.
The theatrical release of the Demon Slayer Mugen Train movie is part of a broader reopening of theater going in Japan that anime movies are playing a part in. Movie theaters in the country have been open for some time now with some other notable anime movies releasing in the country ahead of Demon Slayer. The first one recognizable to western audiences would be Fate/stay Night: Heaven’s Feel Ⅲ. Spring Song. Fate/Stay Night is a mega franchise that encompasses multiple anime series and a gacha game called Fate/ Grand Order that grossed $3 billion worldwide in 2019. Heavens Feel is the capper to a trilogy of movies and its release netted $1.7 billion yen ($16 million) since its August release. The second was the Kyoto Animation project Violet Evergarden The Movie, which netted 570 million yen ($5 million dollars) since its release in September.
The difference between Demon Slayer Mugen Train and other movies released in Japan is that TOHO Cinemas is temporarily lifting seating restrictions across all its theaters for the movie. Seating restrictions in the country were implemented in May to facilitate social distancing due to COVID-19. In September theaters began hosting screenings at full capacity, though eating inside is only allowed at screenings where audiences are capped at 50 percent. For the weekend that Demon Slayer Mugen Train releases, the theater will temporarily allow full audiences and food and drinks to be sold at theaters, but visitors are forbidden from eating food during screenings while at the venue. These measures aren’t just relegated to TOHO Cinemas but across the board at other theater chains showing the movie across Japan.
The box office numbers for Demon Slayer Mugen Train will be interesting to watch considering early response suggests it may surpass the box office numbers of Violet Evergarden: The Movie. Demon Slayer Mugen Train is slated for an unspecified release date in 2021 for the US.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie Mugen Train releases in Japan on October 16
Source: Crunchyroll, TOHO Cinemas