New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Infinity Castle" carved out a place in box-office history this weekend as the Japanese anime film sliced straight to No. 1 - outpacing the horror sequel "The Conjuring: Last Rites."

The Sony-owned Crunchyroll release shattered expectations with a mighty $70 million debut in North America, according to Sunday estimates from Comscore. That haul marks the biggest domestic opening ever for an anime film, surpassing "Pokemon: The First Movie," which opened with $31 million in 1999.

The film extended its meteoric run, scoring the biggest anime opening of all time with a $132.1 million weekend, according to Comscore. Crunchyroll and Sony rolled it out across North America and 49 internat...