An animated movie based on the blockbuster "Demon Slayer" manga series has become the highest-grossing film in Japanese box-office history, its distributors said Monday, ending the reign of Hayao Miyazaki's "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away") from 2001.
The film, a tale of an adolescent boy fighting human-eating demons, amassed as of Sunday ¥32.47 billion and drew more than 24 million to theaters since its opening on Oct. 16, according to co-distributors Aniplex Inc. and Toho Co.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic limiting cinema audiences, the movie had raked in ¥32.12 billion as of Saturday, surpassing Oscar-winning director Miyazaki's film, which chalked up ¥31.68 billion in box-office sales.