The end is nigh for the mega popular new-wave shonen anime series Demon Slayer, which will conclude its epic tale as a movie trilogy. Now we know when that begins: the first film in the anime’s final curtain call, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, will come to U.S. theaters September 12.
Announced last June, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle comes off the heels of the anime’s cliffhanger fourth season. The series follows a boy named Tanjiro Kamado who, after the murder of his family at the hands of a demon, joins the Demon Slayer Corps in the hopes of turning his sister Nezuko, who was transformed into a demon. The final moments of Demon Slayer‘s fourth season placed its heroes directly into the heart of the demon’s lair, the Infinity Castle, setting them on an irreversible course toward an explosive final battle.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, animated by Ufotable, will be distributed globally by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment, excluding Japan and other select Asian territories. The film will be available in Japanese with English subtitles and an English dub, and will also have IMAX screenings.
For international readers fortunate enough to spawn outside of the hellscape of the U.S., here are the release dates and territories for Infinity Castle. Be sure to check up on Crunchyroll’s socials for additional dates).
- August 14: Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan
- August 15: Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam
- August 20: Philippines
- September 11: Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean (Jamaica, Aruba, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Curacao), Central America, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland (Italian-speaking), Syria, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates
- September 12: India, Mongolia, Spain, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Kenya, Latvia, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Romania, Southern Africa, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom
- September 17: Belgium, France, French-speaking Africa, Luxembourg, Switzerland (French-speaking)
- September 18: Moldova
- September 25: Austria, Germany, Switzerland (German-speaking)
“Demon Slayer has been a phenomenal franchise, and we at Crunchyroll are delighted to have been a part of it from the beginning,” Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini said in a previous press release. “Crunchyroll is thrilled to be able to bring this trilogy of films to fans, on the big screen, and it promises to be one of the truly epic and consequential pop cultural events of our time when it hits theaters.”
In many ways, Demon Slayer is a series that popularized ongoing anime receiving worldwide theatrical releases. So it’s a bit poetic—if not capitalistically motivated—for Crunchyroll and company to capitalize on the anime’s finale with one final box office smash. Time will tell whether the film trilogy will be just that… or if all parties involved will milk the franchise for all its worth with a subsequent anime TV season chopping up its theatrics in episodic chunks—with sprinkles of scenes that didn’t make it past the film’s cutting room floor, as has happened in the past. (Here’s hoping they don’t do that this time around.)
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