‘Demon Slayer’ Powers Japan’s Box Office to $1.79 Billion in 2025, Up 32% Year-on-Year

“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle – Part 1:” anchored a banner year for Japan’s theatrical market in 2025, helping push total box office receipts to a record JPY274.45 billion ($1.79 billion), up 32% from 2024’s approximately JPY206 billion ($1.34 billion), according to figures released by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren).

The blockbuster anime feature was the clear market leader, generating $255 million and finishing far ahead of every other release on Eiren’s annual list of films grossing more than JPY1 billion ($6.52 million).

Local productions dominated the top of the rankings. The year’s second-largest title was “Kokuho,” which earned $127 million, making it the all time highest-grossing live-action Japanese film locally, followed by “Detective Conan: One-eyed Flashback” with $95.8 million. Anime continued to drive theatrical attendance, with “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” collecting $67.8 million.

Rounding out the top 10 Japanese films of 2025 were “Cells at Work!” ($41.1 million), “Tokyo Mer: Mobile Emergency Room – ‘Nankai Mission’” ($33.9 million), “Exit 8” ($33.3 million), “Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Art World Tales” ($30.0 million), “Grande Maison Paris” ($27.4 million) and “Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – Beginning” ($23.5 million).

Imported films also delivered a steady slate of billion-yen performers, led by “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” which topped foreign releases with $33.9 million. “Moana 2” followed closely with $33.3 million, while “Jurassic World: Rebirth” ranked third among imports with $31.9 million.

Further down the imported chart, “A Minecraft Movie” generated $25.5 million, followed by “Wicked Part I” at $22.8 million and “Lilo & Stitch” with $21.5 million. “Mufasa: The Lion King” earned $14.3 million, and “F1: The Movie” $13.7 million. “Conclave” and “Captain America: Brave New World” both collected $7.2 million.