A massive storm is brewing at the Indian box office, and it’s coming from an unexpected source. The Japanese anime film Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is showing unbelievable strength in pre-sales, signaling a huge shift in audience preferences in India. The film has already generated nearly ₹15 crore through advance bookings alone, even before its first show has run.
This pre-release collection figure is extraordinary for a non-Hollywood foreign film. The craze is so high that sales are not just strong for the opening weekend but are already spilling over into the weekdays, indicating massive anticipation from a dedicated fanbase.
Ticket Sales Go Through The Roof: National Chains Report Insane Numbers
To understand the scale of this phenomenon, we now have specific ticket sale numbers from major national chains. The advance bookings for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle are truly historic. For the opening day alone, the film has sold over 93,000 tickets in just the PVRInox and Cinepolis chains. The breakdown shows widespread demand: PVRInox sold 60,300 tickets, while Cinepolis sold 33,100 tickets, bringing the total to 93,400 tickets for Friday.
The momentum continues strongly through the weekend. Total advance ticket sales for the opening weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday combined) have already crossed a staggering 245,000 tickets in these chains. These figures are almost unheard of for an animated release and guarantee a shocking start at the box office this Friday.
Shattering Records Before Release
To put this achievement in perspective, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle has already surpassed the lifetime box office collections of previous successful anime films in India. Titles like Suzume and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which were considered big hits, both earned around $\₹$10 crore during their entire theatrical runs. Demon Slayer has crossed that mark with pre-sales alone, becoming the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in India before Day 1.
The most shocking part of this news is that these record-breaking numbers have been achieved with a very restricted rollout. Advance bookings have not even opened fully across the country. Major national chains in key cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai, along with most tier-2 and tier-3 cities, are yet to open their counters for the film.
The Power Of Fandom
The surge in popularity for Japanese anime in India has been building for a while, with the Demon Slayer franchise leading the charge. The first film, Mugen Train, performed well even when released during the COVID-19 pandemic with limited screenings. Since then, the fanbase has only grown stronger, creating an undercurrent of excitement that is now exploding at the box office.
Even with the limited screens currently available for booking, national chains PVRINOX and Cinepolis have already reported advance sales worth over ₹10 crore for the opening weekend. Once bookings open fully across India, trade experts predict “absolute mayhem,” with potential advance booking figures climbing as high as ₹30 crore to ₹50 crore. For now, the industry can only sit back and watch as this anime phenomenon reshapes box office expectations.
About Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle
Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle is a Japanese animated feature film and part of the globally popular Demon Slayer franchise, based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge. The story follows Tanjiro Kamado, a young boy who becomes a demon slayer after his family is slaughtered and his younger sister Nezuko is turned into a demon. Infinity Castle covers a highly anticipated arc from the original story.
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