Pixar and Dreamworks have run away with making a number one animated movie in the box office almost every year since 2000. 2025 seems to take a whole other turn. This year, the runaway winner turned out to be a Japanese studio called Ufotable, with their hit movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle, outperforming movies such as Dreamworks’ Dog Man, The Bad Guys 2, and Pixar’s Elio. Surprisingly, not far behind in 7th place was Chainsaw Man The Movie: Reze Arc, which was produced by Mappa, another Japanese Animation Studio. Are 2D manga based movies taking over US box offices?
Anime has been known to use episodes as a way of telling their stories, but occasionally they have chosen to make movies for certain arcs in the story. Typically, these movies only do well in Japan. However, they have been competing with well known US studios such as Pixar and Dreamworks over the last couple years in the US.
Well known anime and manga such as Dragon Ball, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen have soared in box offices across the US from 2019 to now, each making over $30 million, and Demon Slayers Infinity Castle movie made over $70 million opening weekend in the US, breaking the previous record from Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, by twice the amount.
These numbers may not mean a lot, but the budget for these movies are around $20-$35 million USD. Even though the movies are making tons of money globally, they are doing very well off. Despite the low amount of marketing and advertising they do in the US to promote the movies.
Japanese studios often make strong story arcs for their movies. As a result, this is a potential reason why they are doing well. However, not all anime movies enjoy this much success in the US. The level of anticipation for studios animating certain arcs could be the difference between the movie making $12 million or $45 million in the US. A good example is once again, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which was a highly anticipated watch for both casual and hardcore fans.
Anime fans will continue to be fed with yet another movie this year from Mappa Studios again, this time being Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, releasing in US theaters on December 5th, 2025. However, there is more competition this time around, not just domestically but globally as well. The releases of the highly anticipated sequels Wicked: For Good, and Pixar’s Zootopia 2 in late November, both projecting to make over $50 million opening day for both films.
With the end of the year coming up, can yet another manga based animated film dominate not just the US animated film box office, but the overall box office as well?
