Japan is buying Demon Slayer movie in record numbers — the rest of the world still can't get a copy
It's 2026, streaming owns everything, physical media is supposedly a corpse — and Japan just looked at all of that and said: actually, we would like to buy the disc. Loudly. In numbers.
Quick recap for anyone who spent the past year under a very comfortable rock: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1 – Akaza's Return opened in Japan in July 2025, made roughly $793 million worldwide, became the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, and then simply refused to leave theaters for almost a full year.
Most movies get evicted after two months. This one squatted until April 2026 like it owned the building, because, financially speaking, it did.
Then, at the end of July, the movie finally arrived where mortals live: streaming on July 28, physical DVD on July 29. And here's where it gets silly.
The charts have been colonized
According to Oricon, Japan's chart-keeping authority, Infinity Castle's first-week DVD numbers didn't just top the chart — the movie's two DVD variants took the #1 and #2 spots simultaneously. The same title. Fighting itself for first place. And winning both.
But wait, it gets greedier. Oricon's all-time DVD rankings for Japan now look like this:
- #1 and #2: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (both variants)
- #3: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle
That's one franchise holding the entire all-time podium. No other anime, no other movie, no other anything. Just Tanjiro, standing on all three steps at once, politely apologizing to everyone he's crushing.
The director, Haruo Sotozaki, has been refreshingly un-smug about the whole phenomenon, telling Deadline:
"I think none of us at the studio imagined that it would go this far."
Sir, it has gone approximately 793 million dollars far, and it's still going.
Meanwhile, the rest of the planet
Here's the punchline: that record-shattering DVD? Japan-only. As of right now there is no confirmed international release date — just a vague "next couple of months, probably." So the global fandom that helped push this movie past every box office record in Japanese film history gets to watch the charts explode from behind glass, like a very polite heist.
And the machine isn't slowing down:
- Infinity Castle Part 2 is reportedly aiming for 2027.
- Part 3, the grand finale with the Muzan fight, is believed to be targeting 2029.
By which point, at this pace, the franchise will presumably hold the top four all-time spots, the box office crown, and possibly a seat in the Diet. Buy your discs early. If Japan lets you.
