In 2020, when movie theaters across the globe were struggling to survive COVID, the box office received an unlikely hero: “Demon Slayer,” the popular anime action series. In the fall of the year, when new releases were scarce, a film spinoff of the show titled “Mugen Train” received a wide release that attracted audiences in droves. Grossing $507 million worldwide, “Mugen Train” was the highest grossing film of the year and smashed the record for the highest grossing Japanese film of all time, serving as a prime example of how the anime market has grown after the last decade.
Now — five years, three more seasons, and two compilations films later — “Mugen Train” is getting a proper cinematic followup. Crunchyroll has unveiled the trailer for “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” a new original film in the anime universe. And it won’t just be any film — the movie will kickoff a full-fledged trilogy of movies, adapting the original manga’s climactic story arc.
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Written by anonymous manga artist Koyoharu Gotouge, the original “Demon Slayer” manga was published in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 2016 to 2020, concluding with 205 chapters published. Set in a fantasy version of early 1900s Japan, the series focuses on the adventures Tanjiro Kamado, an ordinary boy whose peaceful life in the mountains is disrupted when demons murder his family. The only survivor is his youngest sister Nezuko, who has been turned into a demon herself. Taking Nezuko along with him, Tanjiro trains in the art of demon slaying in order to find a way to reverse his sister’s curse and ultimately find vengeance.
Over the course of its run, “Demon Slayer” became one of the most popular manga series of all time and a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, grossing $150 million since 2021. Much of its success can be attributed to the anime adaptation, produced by animation studio Ufotable and directed by Haruo Sotozaki, which premiered in 2019 and became a viral word of mouth hit thanks to its high quality animated fight scenes. The series has since run for four seasons and 63 episodes, in addition to “Mugen Train,” which adapted one of the manga’s most notable story arcs.
In the manga, the “Infinity Castle” chapters see Tanjiro and the Demon Slayer Corps get abducted and sent into the titular extra-dimensional world, a stronghold for demons. As they fight to escape, Tanjiro confronts Muzan Kibutsuji, the demon who originally killed his family. The “Infinity Castle” film — which, like “Mugen Train,” is directed by Sotozaki — will adapt only part of the arc, before two sequel films follow to complete a trilogy. The manga continued for roughly 20 chapters after the “Infinity Castle” arc, but it’s unclear if the trilogy will be followed by another season of the show or if the final film will incorporate that content and act as the anime’s grand finale.
Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment will release “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” in U.S. theaters on September 12, including on premium formats like IMAX. Release dates for the next two planned films have not been announced. Watch the trailer for the film below.
