August 28, 2025
SEOUL – “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” is poised to become Korea’s biggest box office hit of the year, with the franchise posting some of its strongest global numbers in the market despite colonial-era controversies — momentum experts link to Japan-Korea animation ties and the series’ themes that strike a deep chord with Korean audiences.
According to the Korean Film Council’s integrated box office system, the film crossed 2 million admissions on Tuesday, just five days after its release. That makes it the fastest-growing release of 2025, outpacing this year’s previous top performers: “Zombie Daughter” (six days), Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” (10 days) and “Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning” (12 days).
At its current trajectory, “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” is expected to outgross predecessor “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train,” which sold 2.22 million tickets in Korea during its run. Released in 2020, “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” became the country’s fifth-highest-grossing Japanese animated feature.
Globally, “Demon Slayer” films have proven a perennial box office draw, but Korea has consistently emerged as one of its biggest markets outside Japan.
According to Box Office Mojo, Japan dominates with a gross of $191.1 million for “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” as of Wednesday, followed by Korea at $12.9 million and Taiwan at $9.8 million. Korea’s performance is particularly striking, given that the film only opened here on Aug. 22 — later than Japan on July 18 and Taiwan on Aug. 8 — yet still surged ahead of other markets. Releases are scheduled to continue rolling out across Southeast Asia this month, before arriving in North America and Europe through September.
The franchise has consistently punched above its weight in Korea. “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” placed the territory third worldwide in gross ($30.6 million), trailing only Japan ($365.6 million) and North America ($49.9 million), with the latter encompassing the US and Canada.
“Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.” PHOTO: UFOTABLE/THE KOREA HERALD
Industry watchers say the fervor is less a one-off and more the product of a long cultural relationship between Korea and Japan in the field of animation.
“Even before Japan’s cultural content was officially imported under the cultural opening policy, Korea’s earliest animated works were created under the influence of Japanese animation,” Park Ki-soo, a professor of culture content at Hanyang University, told The Korea Herald.
He cited “The Returned Hong Gil-dong” (1995), which was written in Korea but drawn and directed in Japan, as an early example.
“Koreans essentially learned from Japanese animation, and its influence still lingers today.”
Others pointed to stylistic preferences.
While Hollywood has practically pivoted wholesale to 3D since Pixar’s “Toy Story” was released 30 years ago, Japan has remained committed to 2D.
“Because Koreans were exposed to 2D animation from early on and became familiar with it, they’ve continued consuming it longer than audiences in many other regions,” Han Chang-wan, professor at Sejong University, told The Korea Herald.
“Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.” PHOTO: UFOTABLE/THE KOREA HERALD
Experts add that the story trope of the “Demon Slayer” franchise further strikes a particularly potent chord with Korean audiences.
“It effectively combines two elements. One is the theme of family bonds, a narrative thread that has long resonated with Korean audiences. The other is the characteristics of zombie narratives, which tend to resonate strongly in developed countries,” explains Park.
According to Park, the zombie framework — where peaceful life can be obliterated by a lurking, unknowable threat — has long found a receptive audience in Korea, while narratives steeped in family loyalty and solidarity are also a ticket to mainstream engagement in the country.
Still, “Demon Slayer” has not been immune to criticism in Korea. The protagonist’s earrings have drawn comparisons to the Rising Sun flag, while the Demon Slayer Corps has been accused of evoking wartime student soldiers. Yet it appears such debates have done little to blunt the franchise’s momentum here.
Analysts say the core audience, mostly in their teens and 20s, largely separates art from politics. “Of course, there are some people who see those aspects as problematic,” Han noted. “But they don’t pose a significant hurdle to the overall consumption pattern.”