The Demon Slayer Season 2 anime TV series could be announced this weekend. On the day the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train movie released in Japan on October 16, 2020, the official Twitter account told fans to expect a special announcement on the evening of Saturday, October 17, 2020.
Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV is going to release a premium edition of Demon Slayer’s Nada Spider Mountain story arc, which includes episodes 15 through 20. The special broadcast will include new footage, eye-catching illustrations, and end credits created by animation studio ufotable.
What really jumped out was the notice that fans should make certain to watch until the very end.
“Don’t miss the ‘announcement’ at the end of the program!” the tweet teased.
According to the official website, the special broadcast is airing from 9 PM to 11:50 PM JST. Keep in mind that Tokyo is 13 to 16 hours ahead of North America depending on the time zone, so for North American anime fans, this special announcement will happen at 10:50 AM EST on Saturday.
Prior to the movie’s release, anime news leakers had claimed that the Demon Slayer Season 2 anime production had already begun. On October 12, 2020, Spytrue claimed, “We killed one demon. The rest is soon other. Let’s kill the second one. Confirmed mission.”
Two days later, Spytrue bluntly stated, “[Kimetsu no Yaiba] Season 2 in Production”.
If the second season is announced this weekend, what does that mean for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Season 2 release date? Typically, Studio ufotable announces their projects at least a year in advance of the release date.
In addition to the Demon Slayer Season 2 anime, Studio ufotable is working on a Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu movie. That second project’s time frame has not been confirmed nor has the studio made any other project announcements for 2021.
For more details and spoilers, see our regularly updated story on the Demon Slayer Season 2 release date.
Demon Slayer movie box office slays Japanese records
Throughout today, Japanese fans have come pouring out of the theaters to discuss the movie. One of the movie-going fans revealed pictures of the Demon Slayer movie’s end credits.
劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限列車編 pic.twitter.com/ss2oBAHEqc
— こんにゃく (@honnyaku_blog) October 16, 2020
To put the popularity of the Demon Slayer anime series into perspective, when tickets released at midnight (Japanese local time) earlier in the week the online ticket sales websites crashed as hundreds of thousands of people queued up to buy a ticket. Phrases related to TOHO and movie theaters began to trend on Twitter.
The initial Demon Slayer movie box office stats were released for Friday. Over 1.34 million tickets were pre-sold and the numbers are likely to be higher over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yiaba movie is playing in 267 theaters with 6,170 showings, which means there were 23 showings per theater on average. As a comparison, Frozen 2 set the previous record in 2019, with 267 theaters and 3,786 showings, which averaged 14 showings per theater. So, the number of showings on opening day is almost double the previous record holder.
It’s the first film to have over 900,000 theaters admissions on the first day in Japan. By comparison, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the previous record holder, with 805,000 admissions on its second day on a Saturday. Frozen 2 had 790,000 admissions on its ninth day, a Sunday.
By Friday evening (Japanese time), the Demon Slayer movie had already exceeded 1.34 billion yen in box office revenue (about $12.7 million USD). That means it just set a record for the highest first day in Japanese box office history for all movies, never mind animated movies.
Considering that weekend movie ticket sales are always higher, it’s very possible that the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train box office sales numbers will exceed 4 billion yen by Sunday. It could also set a new record for single-day admissions on Saturday or Sunday.
In comparison to other anime, Spirited Away is still number one at 30.8 billion yen in total. The Your Name anime had a box office total of 25 billion yen in Japan. Weathering With You earned 14 billion yen.
Based on this slaying success, it’s no wonder that the anime production committee would desire to make a Demon Slayer Season 2 announcement quickly.
FUNimation’s Demon Slayer movie USA release date confirmed for early 2021
In recent times, FUNimation and Aniplex confirmed that the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train English dub and sub will be coming out in North America in early 2021. FUNimation and Aniplex made the announcement during their recent New York Comic Con Metaverse panel.
The exact Demon Slayer movie USA release date will be announced in the future (the story in the link will be updated once the exact premiere dates are confirmed for the USA).
Keep in mind the U.S. release date won’t be the same for both the English dub and sub. Historically, FUNimation has released their English subtitled version on certain days while the English dubbing is on other days.