On July 18, 2025, Japan saw the release of what would end up becoming the biggest global anime movie of all time in Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1. This movie is quite easily one of the biggest hits of all time and one that changed the anime industry for good. In 2026, the Demon Slayer franchise has stayed quiet, and there doesn’t appear to be any competitor that can rival or mimic what it did with the release of Infinity Castle Part 1. That said, other big, exciting projects are being lined up for 2027 that are sure to rival Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1 and Part 2, as well as potentially even challenge it. The biggest of them all is One Piece Film: God Valley.
Announced on One Piece Day 2026 on August 30, this new project sees the franchise deliver a canon movie for the very first time in its 27-year anime history and, at the same time, adapt one of the most exciting wars to have ever been featured in the story. One Piece Film: God Valley is set for a summer 2027 release, and given the immense popularity of this series as the best-selling manga in the entire world, it certainly stands a chance at challenging Demon Slayer.
Demon Slayer Established Its Dominance In The Anime World With Mugen Train And Infinity Castle
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train was first released on October 16, 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the popularity of the Demon Slayer franchise had already shot through the roof following the successful first season adaptation by Studio Ufotable. As such, Mugen Train ended up being an incredibly successful ride, and it became Japan’s highest-grossing movie of all time — a record that it maintains to this day. Globally, Demon Slayer also did incredibly well and broke various records, but all this was overshadowed by the success that Infinity Castle Part 1 saw in 2025. In Japan, Infinity Castle Part 1 failed to dethrone Mugen Train as the highest-grossing movie of all time, but globally, Infinity Castle absolutely smashed Mugen Train and every other anime movie to ever exist.
Overall, it is believed that Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part One grossed roughly around $793 million globally, which is an incredibly high figure that dwarfs the $500 million mark of Mugen Train. Quite clearly, with the release of Infinity Castle, Demon Slayer showed the world that its success was not just down to the COVID-19 pandemic and that it truly is massive enough to pull in fans from all over the world to theaters. In fact, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1 was so successful that its run in theaters ended only recently in 2026, which is practically unheard of. On July 28, 2026, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Part 1 finally hit streaming platforms after a year-long wait, which goes to show how strong its run in theaters was. Undoubtedly, challenging this movie is going to be incredibly difficult for any other anime film, but one series that certainly stands a chance at doing so in 2027 is One Piece Film: God Valley.
One Piece Is The Only Anime That Can Dethrone Demon Slayer In The Movie Department
When it comes to the highest-grossing anime movies of all time, Demon Slayer takes the top two spots worldwide, with Mugen Train in the first spot and Infinity Castle Part 1 in the second spot. Spirited Away finds itself in the third spot, followed by Your Name in number four. The fifth-highest-grossing anime movie in Japan is One Piece Film Red, which got over ¥20 billion in total. Given that One Piece’s non-canon movie is already competing with the top dogs, the fact that it is getting its first canon movie in 2027, which also focuses on one of its biggest wars of all time, is a very positive sign that it will crack the top five once again.
For One Piece, the only major competition comes from Shinkai, Ghibli, and Demon Slayer. With a strong marketing run coupled with an equally good production, One Piece Film God Valley can do the impossible and reach numbers comparable to Demon Slayer. Surpassing Demon Slayer is certainly not going to be easy for One Piece Film God Valley, but it must be said that it is far more popular than it was in 2022. Anime in general is far bigger right now than it ever was. At the same time, One Piece doing its first canon movie increases its chances for greater success.
Fans from all over the world will rush to theaters to catch this exciting story in its full glory. Added to that is the fact that Eiichiro Oda, the creator of the series, is collaborating with Toei Animation for this all-canon project and will most likely include never-before-seen moments that even the manga did not have. That is certainly incentive enough for fans to head to the theaters and is surely going to boost the overall popularity of this movie even further. All things considered, One Piece is the only franchise that can dethrone Demon Slayer from its throne, but even with all its popularity, it might not succeed in doing so.
One Piece Film: God Valley’s Success Depends On Its Marketing By Toei And Eiichiro Oda
For any anime to come even remotely close to Demon Slayer in terms of movie success is a massive challenge to undertake, but One Piece has certainly shown that even with non-canon movies that fans don’t particularly care about, it can break into the top five. Now, with a canon movie adaptation set to be released in 2027, the chances for it to pull in even greater numbers are certainly there, but it all comes down to how well the movie is marketed.
If the marketing campaign for One Piece Film God Valley is poor or nothing out of the ordinary, then this movie is most certainly destined to fail when it comes to even getting close to Demon Slayer or cracking the top five. If its marketing is good and Eiichiro Oda himself gets as involved as he can be, then the potential for it to shatter the record at the Box Office is certainly there. To make things particularly exciting, Eiichiro Oda himself can add never-before-seen moments to this movie adaptation that fans did not even get in the manga. This would certainly raise the intrigue among the fans.
At the same time, this movie can be made as friendly for new watchers as possible. One Piece is a massive story, and while that is an incredible strength, it can also be a weakness when it comes to movie releases. Not all fans would want to check a movie without knowing what came before it, but if God Valley is a self-contained movie featuring the story of Gol D. Roger as he destroyed Rocks D. Xebec, then it can work as a standalone release for the franchise that will only serve to attract more fans. All things considered, One Piece certainly has the potential to challenge Demon Slayer, but much of it comes down to Eiichiro Oda himself as well as Toei Animation. If marketed well, this new movie could very well go on to reach new heights that no fan expected it to reach ever before.
One Piece Film: God Valley is set for release in Summer 2027.
