411 Box Office Report: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Stays At #1 As HIM Falls Short

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle held onto the top spot this weekend at the box office after HIM proved that it was – well, not HIM. The blockbuster anime hit took a predicted 75% fall in its second weekend to bring in $17.3 million, enough to win the weekend.

As was noted last week, anime is an incredibly front-loaded genre and the extra-strong opening for Infinity Castle assured that it was going to drop big-time. Sony Pictures isn’t upset though, as the film is easily the highest-grossing anime domestically at $104.7 million and has a staggering $555 million worldwide. Suffice it to say that this is a massive hit that will still likely close out around $140 million in the US.

Meanwhile, HIM broke a string of successful horror flicks at theaters by falling short of a first down with $13.5 million. That number is well below the $15 million to $20 million that was largely expected for it going into the weekend. The Marlon Wayans-led psychological horror film opened in the general vicinity of the disappointing starts for MEG4N 2.0 ($10.2 million), I Know What You Did Last Summer ($12.8 million), and Wolf Man ($10.2 million).

Now, there is a difference in one of those films; I Know What You Did Last Summer proved to have appeal overseas and solid enough legs to get to $63.4 million, a success against an $18 million budget. HIM looks to be more of a failure alongside those other two movies.

Universal marketed this sports-themed psychological horror flick heavily on producer Jordan Peele, but he’s not directing this one and critics did not fall in love with it. The critical aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes is a lowly 28%. Worse, audiences aren’t keen on it either with a 56% RT audience rating and a C- CinemaScore. That CinemaScore is forgivable for the genre; the RT audience score isn’t and strongly suggests that the film won’t have legs.

Worse, the film is not going to perform well overseas. Films about American football doesn’t tend to turn into hits outside of the country and HIM took in just $362,000 in a smattering of markets. More are to come in the approaching weeks, but there’s not much hope for a saving grace there. HIM cost $25 million to produce plus marketing, and a domestic final around $30 million is not going to cut it.

In other horror box office news, The Conjuring: Last Rites continues to push ahead as it was down a decent-enough 49% in its third weekend for $13 million. The Warner Bros. hit now has $151.2 million domestically and less than a hair under $400 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise both domestically and worldwide. With a $55 million budget, this is a huge hit for the studio and is still targeting somewhere around $175 million in the US by the end of its run.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale proved to be somewhat expectedly front-loaded as it brought in $6.3 million in its sophomore frame. That’s a 65% drop, basically on par with Downtown Abbey: A New Era’s 64% drop in May of 2022. Grand Finale won’t reach the first film’s $96.6 million domestic final, but at $31.6 million stateside thus far and $59.5 million worldwide it’s not going to lose too much money for Focus Features before it hits home viewing. The budget was $50 million and it should end up landing at around $48 million or so domestically.

The Long Walk was off just 43% in its second weekend to bring in $6.3 million. It remains to be seen whether it or Downton Abbey will ultimately claim the #4 spot once final numbers are determined. Either way, Long Walk is the one in better shape as it had a better drop than fellow Stephen King adaptations The Monkey (54%), Firestarter (43) and Doctor Sleep (57%), ultimately landing in the same range as 2023’s The Boogeyman (42%).

Long Walk has tallied up $22.7 million domestically and $24.7 million worldwide, and is looking pretty secure on a $20 million budget with a probable $35 million domestic total and plenty more overseas markets to open in.

HIM may have suffered this week, but it didn’t get buried the way that A Big Bold Beautiful Journey did. The unwieldy-titled romantic fantasy brought in just $3.5 million, way below the $10 million to $13 million that was predicted. It’s safe to this one a complete failure already, as even the expected opening weekend would have been problematic for a $45 million-budgeted film.

What went wrong here? Plenty, but mostly it was just an undermarketed film that didn’t have any buzz behind it because Sony Pictures didn’t want to throw good money after bad. Critics didn’t like Big Bold Beautiful at just a 37% RT critic aggregate, and neither did moviegoers at a 58% RT audience rating and a B- CinemaScore. Again, HIM got away with its low numbers easier because of the genre, whereas Big Bold Beautiful was targeting demographics that rely more on metrics over hype.

The film is also not faring well overseas, where it has $4.5 million for an $8 million worldwide total. The film may get to $10 million domestically but Focus Features will be desperately hoping this finds its audience on digital, otherwise it’s losing a decent amount of money on it.

Angel Studios had its own football movie in play with the inspirational The Senior. The drama, based on the real story of then-59 year-old college linebacker Mike Flynt, brought in $2.8 million. That’s on par with the studios’ Sketch from August ($2.4 million) but below the $5.4 million start of The Last Rodeo in May.

On the surface, was a weird choice for Angel Studios to schedule this film the same weekend as HIM, which was always going to take the biggest box office between the two and tackles the same sport. But the two films are so different there doesn’t look to have been any cannibalization here. Critics liked The Senior at an 83% RT aggregate and so did audiences (A CinemaScore, 95% RT audience rating. As usual with Angel Studios there’s no word on its budget, but it will probably get to around $9 million domestically.

The rerelease of Toy Story was down an expected 59% to $1.4 million. The 1995 film now has $198.4 million domestically and $374.6 million as it continues to bring in extra money for Disney.

Coming in at #9 was Fathom Events’ Sight & Sound Presents: NOAH – Live!. The live recording of the Biblical stage play scored $1.4 million, giving it a total of $1.6 million domestically. No word on the budget (likely very low as it’s a stage recording) nor its continued release plans, but it’ll be out of the top 10 by next weekend.

Weapons was down 54% in its seventh weekend to add $1.3 million to its totals. The Zach Cregger-directed horror film, which is already out on digital, now has $149.7 million domestically and $263.4 million worldwide, a huge success against a budget of $38 million.

Next weekend will see a new #1 as Demon Slayer makes way for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. Both films are looking to total around $20 million to $25 million as they target very different crowds. Meanwhile, The Strangers: Chapter 2 is cruising toward around $8 million to $9 million.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle – $17.3 million ($104.7 million total, $555 million WW)
2. HIM – $13.5 million ($13.5 million total, $13.9 million WW)
3. The Conjuring: Last Rites – $13 million ($151.2 million total, $400 million WW)
4. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – $6.3 million ($31.6 million total, $59.5 million WW)
5. The Long Walk – $6.3 million ($22.7 million total, $24.7 million WW)
6. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – $3.5 million ($3.5 million total, $8 million WW)
7. The Senior – $2.8 million ($2.8 million total, $2.8 million WW)
8. Toy Story – $1.4 million ($198.4 million total, $374.5 million WW)
9. Sight & Sound Presents: NOAH – Live! – $1.4 million ($1.6 million total, $1.6 million WW)
10. Weapons – $1.3 million ($149.7 million total, $263.4 million WW)