09/08/2025

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Malaysian Paper

Slaying records

/thesundaily /

T HE latest movie adaptation of hit manga and anime series Demon Slayer is breaking records in Japan, becoming the fastest film to gross ¥10 billion (RM288 million), an industry body said. The film was released on July 18 and reached the ¥10-billion mark after eight days. The previous record-holder was the last instalment of the series, which hit that figure after 10 days in 2020, Kogyo Tsushinsha, which tracks movie sales, said. “We thank each and every fan who came to movie theatres and theatre staff who are delivering this to the fans,” the movie’s official X account said earlier this week. Demon Slayer is originally a manga comic book series that has sold over 200 million copies worldwide, according to its publisher Shueisha. The work by artist Koyoharu Gotouge follows a combat adventure of boy hero Tanjiro Kamado who fights demons as he searches for a o New Demon Slayer movie fastest in Japan to gross ¥10 billion

Tanjiro (left) with the character’s voice actor Natsuki Hanae.

cure for his sister who has become one. The intense popularity of the series is rivalled only by global titles such as Dragon Ball , Naruto and One Piece , Kyodo News said. The original manga series appeared in the popular Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 2016 to 2020. – AFP

(From second left) Anime series producer Yuma Takahashi and voice actors Hanae and Hiro Shimono with characters from the anime. – PICS FROM AFP

Peaky Blinders creator to pen new James Bond film, says studio

S TEVE N Knight, the creator of gritty TV crime series Peaky Blinders , will write the next James Bond movie, studio Amazon MGM announced this week. Knight will work alongside previously announced director Denis Villeneuve ( Dune ) to bring the world’s most famous fictional spy back to the big screen after a prolonged absence. Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood’s most valuable franchises back into production. There has been no new Bond film since 2021’s No Time To Die . Knight is best known as the mind behind violent British gangster series Peaky Blinders , which was set in industrial England at the turn of the 20th century and

became a global hit. Running for six seasons and with a Netflix film version currently in the works, Peaky Blinders turbo-charged the careers of leading man Cillian Murphy, alongside a stellar supporting cast including Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kingsley Ben-Adir. In addition to Peaky Blinders , Knight also co-created the wildly popular television quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and has penned four novels. The Birmingham, England-based screenwriter, producer and director’s other TV credits include Taboo , See , This Town and All the Light We Cannot See . The Bond films, based on Ian Fleming’s novels, have earned more than US$7 billion (RM30 billion) collectively at the global box office since debuting in 1962. – AFP

Rounding out the top 10 were:

I Know What You Did Last Summer (US$5.1 million) How to Train Your Dragon (US$2.8 million) Eddington (US$1.7 million) Saiyaara (US$1.3 million) Oh, Hi! (US$1.1 million)

Fantastic Four storms box office THE Fantastic Four: First Steps , Disney’s reboot of the Marvel Comics superhero franchise, conquered the North American weekend box office, earning US$118 million (RM500 million) and sidelining Superman , industry estimates showed last Sunday. Entertainment Research. Superman , the latest big-budget action film featuring the iconic superhero from Warner Bros and DC Studios, slipped to second place at US$24.9 million, Exhibitor Relations said. Fantastic Four is set in a retro-futuristic world. – PIC FROM INSTAGRAM @FANTASTICFOUR

mutated dinosaurs – are lurking. F1: The Movie , the Apple and Warner Bros flick starring Brad Pitt as a washed-up Formula One driver who gets one last shot at redemption, moved up to fourth place at US$6.2 million. Smurfs , the latest film featuring the adorable blue creatures and starring Rihanna as Smurfette, slipped to fifth place in only its second week in cinemas with US$5.4 million in North American ticket sales. “The box office is on an excellent run that started two weeks ago. These are not the good old days, but Fantastic Four and Superman are performing extremely well. Superheroes are showing some swagger, and it is good news for the industry,”Gross said. – AFP

That puts the global take of the film, starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, over the US$500 million mark. Jurassic World: Rebirth – the latest instalment in the blockbuster dinosaur saga – finished in third place at US$13 million. Its worldwide total stands at US$672.5 million. The Universal film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali, takes viewers to an abandoned island research facility, where secrets – and genetically

Fantastic Four – starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn ( Stranger Things ) – tells the story of a team of heroes trying to save a retro-futuristic world from the evil Galactus. “This is an outstanding opening. Fantastic Four was a modest and struggling superhero series – it just caught up with the biggest and the best,” said David A. Gross of Franchise

Peaky Blinders is a British gangster series set at the turn of the 20th century. – PIC FROM INSTAGRAM @PEAKYBLINDERSOFFICIAL