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As of this writing, we're still a few days away from the hotly-anticipated US release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. But in Japan, where the movie has been out for about a month and a half, that anticipation has already turned into a cinematic event, which has in turn turned into a box office revelation. In fact, a recent report points to the possibility that Infinity Castle may soon become the most successful film in Japan's box office history...

If it can knock out its own predecessor and one of the most legendary animated films to ever hit Japanese cinemas.

The report we're talking about, specifically, is one published by Crunchyroll September 8. In it, Crunchryoll points to the fact that Infinity Castle has passed the 30 billion yen mark at the Japanese box office, one of only three films to have ever done so. Not only that, but Infinity Castle now holds the record for the fastest film to have reached that benchmark, passing it at only 46 days in the theater.

And yet, those aforementioned other two movies still hold strong above Infinity Castle's total earnings. The first of those is, unsurprisingly, another Demon Slayer movie - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train - which went on to pass the 40 billion yen mark at the Japanese box office, the only film to ever do so. To this day, it is the most financially successful film in the history of that box office.

Coming in just below it (but still obviously making Japanese cinematic history), was beloved Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away, which made a reported ¥31.68B when it came out in 2001. That record was held for nearly two decades, until Mugen Train came along and blew everyone away.

So will Mugen Train's follow-up take its coveted spot? Well, that's a question only time can answer, but at the speed with which Infinity Castle is raking in box office cash (Mugen Train took 59 days to reach ¥30B as opposed to Infinity Castle's 46), it's at least a distinct possibility. In other words, get ready to update those wikipedia pages, anime fans. 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle slashes into US theaters September 12.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic