In a weekend of music biopics and romantic melodrama, the big winner in theaters was none other than Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Mappa’s anime movie made $108 million worldwide. It’s been out in Japan and other countries since September, and as of this weekend, made $90.7 million internationally. This weekend marked its North American debut, where it exceeded expectations of $11-12 million and wound up grossing $17.3 million. It’s another victory for Sony and Crunchyroll following the domestic debut of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle back in September.
Chainsaw Man’s gotten pretty strong reactions from critics and audiences, as THR boasted its A Cinemascore and Rotten Tomatoes in the high 90s. The movie adapts the “Reze” arc of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s dark fantasy shonen, where Denji meets a teenage girl named Reze and develops a crush, which goes…not great for him or everyone else in the city, suffice to say. Helping the film’s success is the fair amount of buildup to it; not just trailers playing before movies, but it also had a New York Comic-Con panel earlier this month, and Sony’s made sure to promote its music and get the film on IMAX screens.
Before Reze’s release, Mappa hoped the film would elicit enough excitement that the studio would get to make another season of the anime series. Last month, studio head Manabu Ohtsuka mentioned wanting to do right by Chainsaw Man fans, and only saying more when it was in a position to do so. Slightly less vague, vice president Hiroya Hasegawa talked about reevaluating how to tackle the anime going forward: “‘Are we going to do it as a series? Are we going to do it as a film?’ It’s another question we’ll be asking ourselves [after Reze],” he said.
The next few weeks, Chainsaw Man’s got some big competition in Bugonia (October 31), Predator: Badlands (November 7), and Running Man, Keeper, and Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (November 14). Some of those will take its IMAX spots, so good to see it while you can.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
