Chainsaw Man Crushes U.S. Box Office in Opening Weekend

Image: Mappa

Has Sony struck box-office gold once more? After the runaway success of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which surpassed $600 million globally, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has now cleared the $100 million threshold worldwide, reaching roughly $108 million this weekend. In its second week, the film outpaced Black Phone 2 (approximately $12.9 million) and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (around $9 million), solidifying its staying power.

Directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, the feature continues the story from Chainsaw Man’s first season. The title posted $18.2 million domestically, helped by strong weekend tallies — about $5.2 million on Saturday and $4.5 million on Sunday. Overseas, MAPPA’s production added $14.7 million across 46 Sony territories, bringing Sony’s reported haul to $60.4 million (a split of roughly $43.1 million international and $18.2 million domestic), according to Deadline. Sony has not yet published an official global total.

Anime marketing firm White Box Entertainment previously told Polygon that Reze Arc mapped closely to the theatrical trajectory of Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which earned about $34 million in the U.S. and Canada in 2022 and opened to a similar $18 million domestically. With a $108 million worldwide return so far, Reze Arc currently trails Jujutsu Kaisen 0’s final $166.6 million run, and it remains unlikely to match the blockbuster heights of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle. Still, the film’s performance represents a major win for Sony’s anime slate.

Sony and Crunchyroll leaned heavily into fan-focused promotions to amplify box-office returns. The marketing push launched at Anime Expo Los Angeles in July with MAPPA panels, themed activations and Pochita photo opportunities, then carried over to New York Comic Con where attendees saw behind-the-scenes clips, entered fan raffles, and attended additional MAPPA events. Organizers also staged exclusive fan screenings that included both the general public and social media influencers following the convention’s final day.

It’s been a banner year for anime and for Sony: the studio still has another major release scheduled this year, Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, set to debut in November.

Source: Polygon