Crunchyroll has acquired Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, which will be released worldwide as a trilogy of films.
All three films are distributed globally, excluding select Asian territories and Japan, by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The release date has not been disclosed.
The trilogy film represents the final story and culmination of the hugely popular, award-winning anime shonen series.
“‘Demon Slayer’ has been a phenomenal franchise, and Crunchyroll is excited to have been a part of it from the beginning,” said Rahul Purini, President of Crunchyroll. “Crunchyroll is thrilled to be able to bring this film trilogy to fans on the big screen. When it releases in theaters, it will be one of the truly epic and consequential pop culture events of our time.”
'Demon Slayer' is a work based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotoge, which has been serialized under Shueisha Jump Comics since 2018. It consists of a total of 23 volumes and has sold over 150 million copies.
The story begins with Tanjiro Kamado, a boy who lost his family to demons, joining a group of demon slayers in order to turn his younger sister Nezuko, who has been transformed into a demon, back into a human.
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” was first released in April 2019 with “Kamado Tanjiro the Indomitable Resolution Arc”, followed by the feature film “Mugen Train” in October 2020, the TV series “Mugen Train Arc”, and “Entertainment Arc”. Arc” from 2021 to 2022. In 2023, “Swordsmith Village Arc” debuted on Crunchyroll immediately following the theatrical release of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village”.
In 2024, “Hashira Training” debuted shortly after the theatrical release of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hashira Training”. The animation production was handled by ufotable.
The latest films, Mugen Train, To the Swordsmith Village, and To Hashira Training, have been both commercial and fan successes. Mugen Train currently holds the record for the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and has grossed over $500 million to date, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film at the worldwide box office. It is currently the second-highest-grossing animated film in U.S. box office history.
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2021, merging it with its own anime streaming platform Funimation, but decided to keep the Crunchyroll brand and develop it into a streaming and theatrical player.
Crunchyroll LLC is an independently operated joint venture of U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan's Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. Ultimately, both companies are subsidiaries of the Tokyo-based Sony Group.
Separately, Sony recently announced that it would be opening an academy to further develop animation creative talent.