The latest Demon Slayer theatrical release in the United States had a very successful opening weekend. According to reports from Deadline on Saturday, the new movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- earned over $5.5 million just on its first day in theaters on Friday. Industry projections estimate the total opening weekend box office will likely reach around $10.8 million for this new Demon Slayer film.
The Numbers broke down that the movie made $1.8 million from preview screenings on Thursday. When combined with Friday’s ticket sales, the total so far is $5.525 million.
For comparison, the previous Demon Slayer theatrical event in March 2023 which showed the first episode of the Swordsmith Village Arc brought in $10.1 million across its opening weekend in the US.
The new To the Hashira Training movie is performing on par with or better than the successful showing for the last Demon Slayer release.
The new Demon Slayer movie titled To the Hashira Training had its global premiere on February 21st, 2023. This theatrical release features two parts – the concluding episode of the Swordsmith Village Arc as well as the very first episode of the upcoming Hashira Training Arc.
So fans who see the To the Hashira Training movie in theaters will get to watch the end of the previous Swordsmith storyline and also get an early sneak peek at the beginning of the next major Hashira Training Arc.
The full TV anime series adapting the Hashira Training Arc is scheduled to start airing on television in Japan in the spring of 2024.
What Is Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc Is All About
Similar to the previous Demon Slayer theatrical release in 2023 for the Swordsmith Village Arc, this new To The Hashira Training movie primarily serves as a sneak preview for the upcoming season rather than being a full stand-alone film.
The movie is directed by Sotozaki Haruo and begins with a recap montage of scenes from past Demon Slayer seasons. Then it shows the final episode of the last Swordsmith Village season.
Only after that do we get the very first episode of the new Hashira Training Arc season.
At the end of the Swordsmith Village storyline, young demon slayer Tanjiro defeats the upper-rank demon Hantengu. His half-demon sister Nezuko also gained the ability to talk and withstand sunlight.
This caught the attention of the evil demon king Muzan, who now wants to find Nezuko and gain her powers.
Following a recap, the movie jumps ahead to the new episode showing the Hashira demon slayers on a mission to get a special mark to help them fight Muzan.
They start intense training for the other slayers. Meanwhile, Tanjiro recovers from past battles and prepares to join the training with his friends Zenitsu and Inosuke.
Ufotable, the studio producing Demon Slayer, is known for having some of the best art direction and blending of 2D and 3D animation in the anime industry.
With Demon Slayer, they have perfected combining hand-drawn art with CGI animation to make the action sequences look very fluid and dynamic.
However, with such stunning visuals from Ufotable, it feels strange that fans have to wait almost half the movie’s runtime to get to any new story content.
While big Demon Slayer fans may enjoy it, as a standalone movie experience, To The Hashira Training is quite lacking since it’s just a compilation of an existing episode and a sneak preview of an upcoming episode.
On the positive side, the film does have an exclusive anime-original fight sequence between the Wind Hashira Sanemi and the Snake Hashira Obanai which is exciting to see.
We also get to see the other Hashira and supporting characters again after a long time away.
Some occasional lighthearted and humorous scenes are entertaining. But most of the new episode is loaded with exposition and dialogue rather than an engaging cinematic experience.
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