Society

'Demon Slayer' film tops 40 bil. yen at box office

May 24 (NHK) - The Japanese animated film "Kimetsu no Yaiba," or "Demon Slayer," has earned a record 40 billion yen, or about 370 million dollars in domestic box office sales.

The film's distributor says nearly 29 million people have watched the movie in theaters across Japan from October 16 to Sunday.

"Demon Slayer" is based on a hit manga series about a boy who battles demons in Japan about a century ago. The movie is a sequel to a TV anime series which was aired in 2019.

Only one other movie has broken the 30-billion-yen mark in Japan, Miyazaki Hayao's animated fantasy "Spirited Away" released in 2001.

The distributor says ''Demon Slayer'' has been shown in 44 other countries and regions, and has attracted audiences of more than 12 million people so far.

In the United States, the movie earned 20 million dollars in the first three days since its April 23 release. That makes it the highest-earning foreign-language film for the comparable period in US history.

The film's box office revenues in South Korea have ranked among the top five for 17 consecutive weeks since its release on January 27.

"Demon Slayer" is scheduled to be released in Britain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and elsewhere.

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