A faint current of anxiety had entered his thinking, which was unusual enough to be worth noting. The box office itself was not the primary concern. What the film's performance would determine was the global promotional momentum available to Demon Slayer going forward.
The television viewership and the tankōbon sales had both reached their highest points since the series began. Rei understood that neither represented the series' ceiling. That ceiling would be pushed outward by the worldwide promotional effect that only a major theatrical success could generate. Everything the series could become beyond its current position depended on what happened on July 20th.
July 12th. Misaki's villa.
As an investor in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba theatrical film, Rei had brought premiere tickets for the largest cinema in Tokyo for both of them.
He had chosen not to arrange advance press screenings. The standard approach of inviting media representatives to early viewings and coordinating favourable coverage before release was not something he wanted for this film.
That kind of word-of-mouth was constructed and recognizable as such. The response from the first genuine audience on opening day was the only version of word-of-mouth that mattered. Advance screenings also created opportunities for plot details to circulate before the film reached its actual audience, which was a cost with no corresponding benefit.
The premiere would be the release. The first viewing would be the real one.
"So you are inviting us to see the film together," Miyu said with a smile.
"Yes. The three of us. After the premiere ceremony there will be media interviews, and I would like both of you to say a few words as my guests," Rei said.
A manga editor and a mangaka who was already a recognizable name in the industry. The three of them attending the Demon Slayer premiere together was entirely natural.
"That is fine. But Rei, you seem genuinely confident about this film." Miyu's expression carried something between amusement and assessment. "There are three other significant productions opening on the same day. Your popularity is real, but the fan bases attached to the award-winning actors in those films are not insignificant.
From what I have been reading, Demon Slayer does not appear to have a strong advantage in the screen time negotiations against those three."
Rei was quiet for a moment.
"You are not wrong. Among the investors behind the summer season releases, I am not necessarily the one with the deepest pockets overall. But I am certainly the one who has invested the most in promotion relative to their own film. The promotional and distribution budget has already passed two hundred million yen."
He paused.
"Even so, I only managed to negotiate a nineteen percent screening share for the opening day from the major cinema chains."
Misaki considered this.
For a large-budget film under normal competitive conditions, nineteen percent was not a strong position. Major productions with clear market dominance in their release window could negotiate thirty percent or higher on opening day, sometimes above forty percent when the competition was light.
Demon Slayer was entering a window with four major productions competing simultaneously for the same limited screen time. The promotional spending had secured a foothold. It had not secured an advantage.
That said, a film releasing into the summer season with nineteen percent of available screen time was still operating in better conditions than a film with a higher percentage releasing into a quiet period. The summer audience was structurally different from the rest of the year.
Students across the country had their longest break, free from the examination and cram school schedules that occupied most of their time otherwise. The audience pool was larger and more available than at any other point in the calendar.
"Himari explained something to me about how this works," Rei said. "The first day's box office and the first day's word-of-mouth are the critical variables. If Demon Slayer's opening day underperforms or the audience response is poor, the cinema chains will adjust the screening share downward from the second day onward.
They make those adjustments continuously based on actual performance."
He smiled slightly.
"Of course, if the opposite happens. If the word-of-mouth is strong. Then perhaps the film spends the rest of the summer season gradually removing its competition from the schedule entirely."
"You genuinely dare to think that way," Miyu said. Her eyes had narrowed.
She had known Rei for nearly six years. His manner when he was expressing his actual expectations about something was specific and recognizable. The more lightly he delivered a statement, the more directly it reflected what he truly believed.
The two sisters looked at each other briefly.
He was aiming for the summer box office championship. That was what he had just said in the language he used when he meant something exactly.
The summer box office champion in Japan historically required at least two billion yen. That was the established threshold.
"Why wouldn't I?" Rei said. "Personally, I believe the potential paying audience for Demon Slayer is considerably larger than what the media analysts and Hoshimori Group are currently estimating. But it can only be verified through the market."
"Of course," Misaki said.
"One more week."
The days moved.
As July 20th approached, the energy building around the film in Japan's online communities became increasingly difficult to contain.
In the film industry, Rei was an outsider with a short history. In the anime world, he was a figure whose position in the industry's history was already beyond reasonable dispute.
A significant proportion of Japan's most dedicated anime and manga enthusiasts did not regularly engage with live-action films or television dramas. Their leisure time went to following current series, attending conventions, purchasing merchandise. But this Demon Slayer theatrical release was a direct continuation of the main story. It was not supplementary content. It was not a standalone side story.
For fans who were following the series, not seeing it in cinemas meant missing a section of the actual narrative, and the fan communities were treating it accordingly.
"Every day feels like a year at this point."
"I keep wondering whether the Mugen Train arc is actually going to be good."
"Honestly, the Natagumo Mountain arc was the only arc in Demon Slayer that reached a genuinely brilliant level. The earlier arcs were enjoyable but not exceptional. Will the Mugen Train arc match Natagumo Mountain or will it fall back into the pattern of the arcs before it?"
"With any other creator you would have a legitimate reason to worry about the late-stage quality holding up. With Shirogane-sensei the question barely makes sense. Every work he has produced has either started at a high level and maintained it or started lower and risen. The pattern of starting low and staying low does not exist in his output."
"I trust it."
"Think about the original decision. Shirogane-sensei was producing the television anime and the theatrical film simultaneously from the beginning. The Natagumo Mountain arc went to television. The Mugen Train arc went to a film with a larger budget and a different production context.
The only reason to make that specific allocation is if he believed the Mugen Train arc warranted the larger investment. He chose which arc went to cinema. That choice tells you something about his own assessment of the material."
"That is a reasonable point."
"Stop overthinking it. Two days remaining. Today is the 18th. Friday night, the 20th, we see the results."
"Call on everyone around you to go together. Do not let Demon Slayer lose face. This is the highest overall investment of any film releasing this summer. We cannot afford for it to underperform. That would be genuinely embarrassing."
"I laugh every time I see the box office predictions from the media outlets and the fans of the competing films. Do they actually believe Demon Slayer fans are reluctant to spend money on a cinema ticket?
Seven or eight hundred million yen. If the film genuinely only earned that much, Shirogane-sensei would not even recover his costs. The people making those predictions have not been paying attention."
The Demon Slayer fan communities were running at full energy in the final days before the release.
In reality, the promotional campaigns surrounding all four major summer releases had escalated into a sustained battle for public attention.
Every camp was projecting confidence. Every set of fans was making the case for their film's dominance of the summer season. The conversation across every platform was loud and had been loud for weeks.
And then, without any particular ceremony, July 20th arrived
...
Stones PLzz
Read 50+ chapters ahead @[email protected]/Ashnoir