Once underground art form now props up slumped box office sales and is used by governments to build soft power
A
n animated drama featuring hordes of carnivorous fiends might not sound like classic box office fodder, but that’s exactly what Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle proved to be in September.
The film set new records for anime – Japanese animated films and series – making more than $70m (£52m) on its opening weekend in the US and £535m so far globally. To put that in context, Ghost in the Shell – an anime classic released in 1995 – made about £2m worldwide.
In that 30-year period, anime has gone from an underground phenomena to a saviour during one of the worst autumn box office slumps in recent memory. So how did we get here?
