DEMON SLAYER: TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING opening | ORDINARY ANGELS opening | DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS opening | Anime wide releases | February 23 to 25, 2024 weekend
Opening weekend box office, charts and commentary
The current weekend: February 23 to 25, 2024
1) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - To the Hashira Training opening
- This is an excellent opening for a Crunchyroll anime sequel. It’s slightly better than the previous Demon Slayer start in March 2023. Reviews are again strong, and the film is already doing excellent business in Japan and Korea:
This is Crunchyroll's strength — action anime based on Japanese manga comics. Demon Slayer and Dragon Ball (also Crunchyroll) are the biggest action anime series we’ve had in the U.S. Crunchyroll sets the standard here. (See more below.)
2) Ordinary Angels opening
- This is a very good domestic opening for a faith-based drama. The weekend figure is above average, and critics' reviews and audience scores are excellent (an A+ CinemaScore). When faith-based dramas connect, they can go on a run, and Ordinary Angels is set up to do that.
Faith-based dramas play almost exclusively in the domestic market, with limited potential overseas; each country finds inspiration in its own characters and stories:
3) Drive-Away Dolls opening
- This is a weak opening for an original comedy. The weekend number is below average for an original indie comedy — you can see it below. Reviews are good-not-great:
4) Anime wide releases
- There have been 19 anime wide releases since 1997; that’s fewer than one per year. After Pokémon broke through in the early 2000s (there were three Pokémons, the biggest made $164m worldwide), the next two decades were quiet, with just four wide releases.
But the last five years have been busy: there have been 12 wide releases, 11 of them from Crunchyroll. In January 2019, Dragon Ball Super: Broly set a high mark with a $9.8m opening, and then 15 months later, the first Demon Slayer smashed records with an eye-popping $21.1m opening.
Not every anime wide release is a hit in the U.S. The films play quickly to their dedicated audience. But reviews are generally glowing and most of the titles are earning extra money after doing giant business in Asia. North America is a vibrant niche market for Japanese anime — small but growing:
- Next week, Dune: Part Two.