Anime, Crunchyroll and Sony have been enjoying a successful streak at the box office. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle was an immense box office hit, raking in over $660 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget. Now, the time has come for another anime adaptation, Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc, to make a dent at the box office. A sequel to the Chainsaw Man anime that releaed in 2022 (itself an adaptation of the 2018 "Chainsaw Man" manga), the feature enjoyed an impressive crirtical reception, scoring a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an A on CinemaScore. Now, financial success is joining its critical praise.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film has opened domestically to an impressive (estimated) $17.3 million from a wide release of 3,003 theaters, beating fellow opening features Regretting You ($12.9 million domestic) and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere ($9.1 million domestic). The film also beat Black Phone 2 on its second weekend ($13 million domestic). Internationally, Chainsaw Man has raked in $43.1 million, bringing its international haul to $90.7 million. Paired with its US opening, Chainsaw Man has now made an estimated $108 million worldwide.
To puts things into perspective with a film adaptation of a slightly more mainstream anime, 2022's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero brought in approximately $20 million domestically in its opening weekend. Though there isn't a precise worldwide box-office figure for Super Hero, its total ranges from $86.5 million (per Box Office Mojo) to $97.2 million (per The Numbers). Chainsaw Man marks yet another victory for distributors Crunchyroll and Sony, who also handled the international distribution for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Infinity Castle earlier this year.
For those unfamiliar with Chainsaw Man, the anime focuses on Denji, a young man forced to pay off his father's debt to the Yakuza by working for them as a demon hunter. This ultimately leads to his death, but he's brought back to life by his Chainsaw Devil dog, Pochita—who also happens to be the first iteration of the Chainsaw Man. Pochita sacrifices his life to become Denji's heart, giving him new life coupled with the power to morph parts of his body into chainsaws.
During this year's New York Comic Con in October, Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc Assistant Director Masato Nakazono discussed (via THR) the challenges of adapting the manga into a movie format:
"There are no speaking words between panels, so we have to create that and make sure the dialogue is going to stand up. The characters Reze and Denji have very personal, intimate relations. Denji thinks Reze is so cute, so we wanted to do things that made the audience feel the same way as Denji would."
Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc is currently in theaters.
Have you watched the Chainsaw Man film? What do you think of its box office success so far? Drop your thoughts in the comments.