Key Takeaways

• Demon Slayer achieved a record-breaking $70 million opening, surpassing expectations.
• The Conjuring: Last Rites experienced a significant drop of 69% in its second weekend.
• Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opened with $18.1 million, outperforming its predecessor.
• The Long Walk earned $11.5 million, marking a solid performance for a low-budget film.

We’re in strange territory as far as the box office goes. It used to be pretty easy to predict what movies were going to hit, and which would flop, but nowadays it ain’t so simple. Case in point—this week’s box office. In my predictions column, I threw cold water on the notion that the anime flick Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle would have a massive opening. I figured it would make $35 million tops, and boy, was I wrong. According to Comscore, the anime opened with a gob-smacking $70 million, setting a record for the highest opening ever for an anime. The previous record holder, Pokémon: The Movie, came out in 1999 and opened with $31 million.

However, this is different: Demon Slayer is playing limited runs, meaning many theaters are only showing it a few times a day. Screenings are packed to the gills, giving it an insane $21,100 per-screen average. It’s Sony’s biggest opening of the year by far, and another smash for their Crunchyroll label.

Last weekend’s champ, The Conjuring: Last Rites, turned out to be extremely front-loaded, losing a hefty 69% of its audience. However, given how high the opening was, I doubt anyone at Warner Bros. and New Line is too upset. After only two weeks, it’s only about $3 million away from being the highest-grossing film in the Conjuring franchise (including the spin-offs, which we ranked here).

Another franchise that’s supposed to be wrapping up this weekend is Downton Abbey, with The Grand Finale opening stronger than the last installment, A New Era, making a solid $18.1 million. That’s impressive considering Downton’s audience skews older, and given that the franchise is even more popular overseas, this third movie is poised to clean up for Focus. Maybe they were premature in bringing it to an end.

Another movie that did pretty well was Lionsgate’s Stephen King adaptation, The Long Walk, which notched an impressive $11.5 million. Given it sports a largely unknown young cast (with Mark Hamill as the baddie), that’s a solid number for a fairly low-budget movie. With a cost in the $20 million range, it should break even domestically and turn a nice profit by the time it hits VOD. Consider this one a single rather than a double or home run at the box office, but it still gives Lionsgate a much-needed win.

Another strong showing came via two limited-run Disney engagements. First up is Toy Story, celebrating its 30th anniversary (let that one sink in, folks), with a $3.5 million take. Hamilton, in its second weekend, continued to draw audiences, earning $2.2 million for a $14.9 million total. Not bad if you consider both are streaming in 4K on Disney Plus. Sandwiched between them was Weapons, which added $2.72 million to its incredible $147 million total, making it one of the year’s biggest sleeper hits.

Disney’s Freakier Friday started to wrap up its run this weekend, with $2.1 million added to its domestic haul of $91 million—it won’t crack the magical century mark. Meanwhile, Spinal Tap II: The Legend Continues had an abysmal opening, with only $1.6 million and a crummy $872 per-screen average. That said, it was always unlikely to make much money at the box office. Even the original 1984 classic only made $5.8 million during its entire run (it was home video and cable that made it a classic). Adding insult to injury, it was nearly outgrossed by the 60th-anniversary re-release of The Sound of Music, which earned $1.48 million.

Next weekend sees the release of the Jordan Peele-produced Him. Does it have a chance of topping the box office? Let us know in the comments!