The picture opened well ahead of expectations in the U.S. and Canada with an estimated $70 million from 3,315 theaters, including huge Friday haul of $33 million, to score the top opening ever for an anime title at the American box office. It’s also Sony’s best showing in recent times, as well as a record-best for Crunchyroll.

Infinity Castle is the top opening of the year so far for animated title, as well as the biggest September animated debut of all time, not adjusted for inflation.

For U.S. theater owners, it’s the second strong weekend in a row for moviegoing after a miserable August, save for special two-day singalong screening of KPop: Demon Hunters, the most-watched English-language film in the history of Netflix.

Demon Slayer came in even higher as the appetite for the anime genre grows in the U.S., and after being embraced by critics and audiences alike.

The pick skewed male (57 percent, withmvast majority of buying tickets in the 18 to 34 age bracket).

Directed by Haruo Sotozaki, Infinity Castle adapts the final arc of Koyoharu Gotouge’s best-selling manga series. Voice cast regulars Natsuki Hanae (Tanjiro), Akari Kitō (Nezuko), Hiro Shimono (Zenitsu) and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Inosuke) return as the Demon Slayer Corps embarks on a climactic assault against the demon king Muzan Kibutsuji. The film was co-financed by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Group.

The film also posted historic results for Imax in Japan; ditto for Imax screens in North America, where both Imax screens and other premium large-format screens accounted for 44 percent of the gross.

Warner and New Line’s juggernaut The Conjuring: Last Rites — which finished Sunday with a near-franchise best $333 million in global ticket sales — fell 69 percent domestically in North America for a domestic total of $131.1 million after competing with Demon Slayer for younger moviegoers.

Overseas, it raked in a huge $60.5 million as it cleared the $200 million mark at the foreign box office for a worldwide tally of $332.9 million in its first 12 or so days.

Overseas, the movie opened to $12.3 million from its first 31 markets, led by the U.K. with $6.3 million, for a worldwide start of $30.4 million. The female-skewing film (72 percent) played older, with 55 percent of the audience over the age of 55.

Lionsgate’s dystopian The Long Walk, based on Stephen King novel, opened in fourth place with an estimated $11.5 million. The acclaimed picture earned  B+ CinemaScore, not unusual for the genre.

(Demon Slayer and Grand Finale each received an A).