Damn is Monday beating every other Saturday/Sunday is such a MOTHER OF GOD stat.

Wew at this Monday numbers. Holy moly. You could have said this was a saturday opening and it would've been a more than respectable number..

Watched the first episode and it was fine, I’ll probably watch the other 25. Theme song is cool which is obviously the most important part of any anime (until they change it to something less cool halfway through) , but it didn’t seem all that different from the horde of anime out there. Any particular reason this property has stood out so much?

I imagine there will be some frontloading, but there's going to be a lot spillover after the weekend is over. Theaters in Japan are still operating at 50% capacity on the weekdays (but 100% on the weekends), so its legs will likely get a boost from this as business will be spread out a bit. Also, since Hollywood continues to delay their films, there's not going to be as much competition this year for it to deal with. Since the series has achieved phenomenon status, well beyond just its very large fanbase, it could behave abnormally strong weeks following its opening weekend. We'll have to wait and see.

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It's a relatively new franchise. And it's basically the biggest brand in Japan right now. Here's a rundown of it since others are probably wondering how the hell is a film about to potentially break the opening weekend record, which has been intact since 2003(!) right now:

The manga launched back in 2016, and it actually concluded earlier this year. The anime debuted last year, and it was a major success. Everyone looks back at Episode 19 (admittingly, one of the best anime episodes I've ever seen as well) as the real turning point from just being a popular anime to becoming the social phenomenon the series is today.

And following season one's conclusion last fall, the manga sales exploded to record-setting levels. So far, 22 volumes have been released (only one left, likely releasing in December or January), and they have sold over 70 million copies in Japan in just the past eleven months alone (80 million overall), doubling the previous yearly sales record. Volume 22 just sold 2.2 million copes in just 3-days (and that doesn't include any digital sales) last week. And sales exceeded 100 million worldwide last week, too. It's the fastest selling manga to reach every milestone from 40 million copies onward, and it's the fastest manga to reach 100 million worldwide.

In addition to the anime's incredible reception propelling the manga sales to previously thought unfathomable levels, the anime's opening song went on to become the best selling anime single of all time in Japan, thus also making history in the music scene as well, furthering its reach to people.

Recently, Fuji TV has been broadcasting season one of the anime the past two Saturday's leading up to the release of the film (the first 13 episodes on October 3rd, the last 13 episodes on October 10th) during a special 7-hour program that featured interviews with the cast. And, this past Saturday's broadcast (which features the now famous 19th episode) earned a ridiculously high 16.7% household rating, with no hour dipping below 11.4%. So a lot of people clearly took advantage of this and were able to catch up on it ahead of seeing the movie this weekend.

And finally, the movie, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, has taken a different approach from the typical anime film. Instead of being an original, non-canon story like nearly every anime film out there, this film is actually continuing immediately where season one of the anime left off by adapting the next story arc of the manga. It's a short high-action and very emotional arc, and should work perfect as a film adaptation. So it's a must-see for everyone: both for manga readers wishing to see it adapted to the big screen; and for anime fans who are caught up now, awaiting to see where the story goes after season one of the anime.