In it’s second-week since debuting in American cinemas, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train beats Mortal Kombat for the number one spot at the box office. The popular anime barely finished off the competition with 6.4 million dollars over the video game adaptation raking in 6.2 million dollars according to ticket sales aggregated from Box Office Guru. Nevertheless, this is a satisfying win for a foreign film in the U.S. market.
While this is down from its opening weekend earnings of 21.1 million dollars, this success should come as good news for fans and distributors Funimation and Aniplex. As Mortal Kombat edged out in the previous weekend, Mugen Train powered up with word of mouth boosting its stronger numbers. Notably, the film is well-favored by critics and fans alike at review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, a current critic rating of 95% fresh and an audience score of 99% approving. These results are not surprising as it presently stands as the highest-grossing film on its home turf in Japan.
Of course, we at JROCK NEWS are rather excited about this news. Not only because we too are anime fans that are thrilled to see one of our favorite shows become so successful; but also enthusiastic about the exposure of the film’s theme song HOMURA (炎) by LiSA—an artist we have covered several times including when this song was announced with her release of LEO-NiNE. So now, American audiences that sit through the closing credits get a taste of what we appreciate so much from Jrock. Indeed, the powerful ballad is evocative and wonderfully encapsulates an important character in the film.