Unless Japanese movie-going habits suddenly start to change in the next few years, with Japan's population now declining this seems like it will hold all the records pretty much forever (unless inflation eventually does its thing...in a century or so).

If Demon Slayer opens that high, its second weekend could potentially be in the Top 5 OW list itself (seems almost certain if you exclude the ones with previews). I have no idea what kind of second weekend drop would be normal in this circumstance, as everything about this film seems unprecedented.

Agreed. This is the perfect storm of perfect storm scenarios. An unprecedented situation. It wouldn't have been able to achieve the record seating/showtimes that's allowing it to break the opening records if not for COVID "forcing" Hollywood to delay their films. Pretty much anyone who's seeing the film would still see it, they're just able to see it this weekend thanks to the record seating/showtimes instead of having to wait until a later date.

And I wouldn't bet on it being horribly frontloaded either. It'll be frontloaded to a degree, certainly, but again the perfect storm it's opening in is going to extend into 2021. There are a few big local films to come in the final couple months of the year (the domestic release schedule is largely back to normal now), but they'll have a pretty minimal impact on it. The Hollywood films wouldn't be providing competition exactly (as it taking away its audience), but rather they'd be chipping away at its screens/seating/showtimes (and IMAX showings).

And the Japanese really like to check out things that become social phenomenons like this series has become, so it's going to attract casual audiences down the road as well that have been catching up with the anime with its recent broadcasts, as well as those who are reading the manga to see what all the hype is about.

I will be posting hourly updates as real-time ticket sales come in from the usual locations (~70% of the market). I've never done this for a Friday, since there's never been a real cause to do so. Outside of holidays, Friday is very much a weekday in Japan, and is thus much weaker than Saturday and Sunday. And Friday numbers aren't really reported outside of being included in three day totals (which you can use to calculate what a film earned on Friday).

However, since Demon Slayer broke the Friday record to everyone's best knowledge before it even opened, likely selling around 700,000 tickets for the day in advance to gross ¥900 million+ ($9 million), possibly more, I'll provide the updates. And given this special, likely never happening again occasion, we can better determine how Saturday and Sunday are doing in comparison to Friday over the weekend.

Again, Friday kicking off (already has kicked off, rather, as theaters opened at 6AM) with around 700,000 admissions and a gross of ¥900 million ($9 million) or so already in the bank in pre-sales. This means that its overall weekend pre-sales were possibly as much as 1.5 million admissions and ¥2 billion (~$20 million), or a bit more.

Also, before I begin,

Note: I'm not going to compare its Friday admissions to other films until they're final. As I said, there's been no reason to track Fridays in the past, not like this. And there's no need, really, given Demon Slayer has already shattered the Friday record so spectacularly in pre-sales alone. The lack of Friday data makes it hard to say by how much, but it's likely going to more than double whatever the previous Friday record was. Not to mention that, to my knowledge, theaters haven't began showtimes at 7am before on a Friday (Sat. and Sun., yes, but not Fri.), so hourly comparisons are difficult.

Demon Slayer has less seats at usual locations on Saturday compared to Friday.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train [Friday Hourly Ticket Sales - Usual Locations (70% of the Market)]

7AM - 8AM - 9AM - 10AM - 11AM - 12PM - 1PM - 2PM - 3PM - 4PM - 5PM - 6PM - 7PM - 8PM - 9PM - 10PM - 11PM - 12AM

11,500 (~16,100)

Note: Usual location admissions is the first number (70% of market), while I'm providing a projected overall admissions number in (parenthesis).

Maybe. It's reported as such (1.28 million vs 1.33 million), but I believe that the showings listed for Friday that begin after midnight (technically counting as Saturday) might have thrown off the exact numbers a bit. Or rather, it's probably more likely to be reverse because of the after-midnight showings (Sat. at 1.33, Fri. at 1.28). A few locations are open 6AM-4AM this weekend, with showings starting after midnight.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train [Friday Hourly Ticket Sales - Usual Locations (70% of the Market)]

7AM - 8AM - 9AM - 10AM - 11AM - 12PM - 1PM - 2PM - 3PM - 4PM - 5PM - 6PM - 7PM - 8PM - 9PM - 10PM - 11PM - 12AM

11,500 (~16,100) - 27,994 (~39,200)

Note: Usual location admissions is the first number (70% of market), while I'm providing a projected overall admissions number in (parenthesis).

Aeon Cinemas website is having issues loading again due to the online traffic... You can load it mostly fine, but it's not possible to purchase a ticket right now online (refuses to load). I wouldn't want to be the persons in charge of their servers or online maintenance this week...

But this might throw off the ticket sales a good deal--meaning they'll be much higher than reported--if they're not being recorded properly. We'll see as the day progresses. I figure it'll become noticeable after mid-day if they're not being recorded.

ALSO: A new trailer, or perhaps just a notice ad (literally a black screen with a release date), for the final Evangelion film is playing ahead of Demon Slayer. It's releasing on January 23rd after being delayed from June earlier this year. I feel like the Eva base is pretty much cemented at this point, but if there's any room for growth, no better way in doing so than advertise before Demon Slayer this weekend.

Demon Slayer: Mugen Train [Friday Hourly Ticket Sales - Usual Locations (70% of the Market)]

7AM - 11,500 (~16,100).......................8AM - 27,994 (~39,200)
9AM - 76,541 (~107,100)....................10AM -
11AM - 12PM
1PM - 2PM
3PM - 4PM
5PM - 6PM
7PM - 8PM
9PM - 10PM
11PM - 12AM

Note: Usual location admissions is the first number (70% of market), while I'm providing a projected overall admissions number in (parenthesis).

It certainly looks like Aeon Cinemas is being included (at least now) despite their online issues, because it'd be complete lunacy if the numbers are higher than this now, as they're well beyond record levels.

For reference, this 9AM Friday update (76,541 tickets) is higher than the previously recorded record of 62,000 ticket sales that the first Yo-Kai Watch movie (second biggest opening weekend in admissions ever) had on SATURDAY at 10AM. And it's 3x higher than some of the biggest known Fridays, like the Star Wars films, at the same point in time.

Crazy numbers honestly just Wow!

Look how cinemas have decorated the bathrooms this weekend :



If you haven't watched the anime or read the manga, then you won't get it, but the wisteria flowers are in reference to the series. Some theaters have decked out the hallways and such in them as well, but I haven't seen any shared photos of that yet.

Is COVID still a thing?

Not this weekend.

I forgot to expand on the 10AM update above. Here's how it stands against other films as of 10am:

122,210 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train
74,565 - Yo-Kai Watch
73,340 - Frozen II
63,854 - One Piece Film Gold
52,996 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

No other film sold 50,000 tickets by 10am at the usual locations (70% of market). Demon Slayer is currently tracking 3-5x higher than the biggest openers of the past five years not listed (Toy Story, Detective Conan, Star Wars, etc.). And it's currently having its "weak" showings because today is a weekday. The evening updates are truly going to be ridiculous because they're going to be 90%-100% full practically everywhere after 6PM or so.

And guess what? These are Friday to Saturday comparisons, so Demon Slayer is at a disadvantage! It'll be even bigger tomorrow since the afternoon showings will be just as busy at the evening showings will be.

Also remember that even before today began, it had already broken the Friday record in pre-sales alone.

Also, not dismissing COVID or anything, far from it, and this weekend certainly carries a risk factor for an outbreak to occur. That said, Japanese theaters are handling it very well.

-Moviegoers can't enter any theater without an employee recording their temperature first.
-No food is being allowed. Drinks are, but food poses higher risk.
-Masks are required at all times outside of drinking. No exceptions.
-Staffing has been greatly increased to help clean and sanitize. People have reported a dedicated cleaning staff of at least 10 employees at the theaters they went to this morning. There are employees at the doors that immediately wipe the door handle/frame with a cloth after each person enters/exits.

Of course, there is still always a risk regardless of measures taken. But they are handling this very well. And you're not going to find a single person, not one, in any picture I post without a mask. No offense to anyone, but this isn't America.

I wonder if Japan will ever change to regular Friday-Sunday as weekend. Almost everything release on Friday now and western reporting use FSS only, so its only right to make FSS official.

I know Friday is just a weekday and don't have same bump as in West it does, but same happen in India too. Friday drops from Thursday 99.9% and Saturday & Sunday have increase. Yet here the weekend is same FSS only.

Blurry picture, but here's a recent picture (11am) at Namba (Toho Cinema), courtesy of 5ch. The others I posted were ahead of the 7am showings this morning in Shinjuku.

This is really good to hear.

Also, any doors that can be kept open to avoid hand touching is being left open. That should be a common sense measure, and it might be in many countries (such as Japan), but I almost never see doors open or business replacing their push/pull doors with automatic doors anywhere I go (I live in the U.S.).

Toho Cinemas Umeda, one of the biggest and busiest theaters in the country.