Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train Headed For US Release
The Demon Slayer movie was a huge hit in its home country, bu it’s taken months to hear word of a Stateside release. The silence was broken this week…Aniplex and Funimation have entered a deal to screen the film around the country next month and in Canada at the same time. The full title is Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train, but in most cases it’s just shortened to Demon Slayer: Mugen Train.
The story of Mugen Train follows the events of Season One and the same protagonist, Tanjiro. The two-hour film covers an entire arc from the manga, an unusual move for adaptions of this type, but in this case the producers of the anime felt animating the Mugen Train story would cost too much as a TV season. Whether you’d prefer individual episodes or not, this option worked out great for them: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train was the first movie in Japanese history to make over $100 million in just 10 days. It’s earned $313.7 million at this point, and that’s just the domestic total.
Will it do the same here? Well, anime films don’t tend to be blockbusters in the West, especially when a pandemic affects attendance. But US fans will still have the chance to see it on the big screen, assuming they’ve had their shots.
“We are thrilled to be bringing Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train to theaters in North America,” said Shu Nishimoto, president of Aniplex of America. “The support from fans worldwide has truly been the driving force behind the series, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience the next chapter in Tanjiro’s journey as a Demon Slayer.”
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train opens exclusively in theaters on Friday, April 23, 2021, including in 4DX and on IMAX screens. Both sub and dub versions will be available. Tickets will be sold starting April 9 at funimation.com/demonslayermovie. For those who’d rather wait for the digital release, that’s coming June 22.
Splash image ©Koyoharu Gotoge / SHUEISHA, Aniplex, ufotable