“Demon Slayer:  Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is easily on track to have the biggest anime opening weekend in North American box office history, with projections ranging from Deadline’s $56 million to as high as $60 million.

The Crunchy Roll release managed an $11 million+ Thursday night which lifted it to a $33 million opening day Friday. I could see where the crowds were turning up, even in the anime-allergic corner of filmdom where I live, as the biggest (not quite) crowd for Thursday’s matinees was for this in my local South Central Va. cineplex.

A big Saturday took it to $70 million.

The previous biggest anime opening was 1999’s “Pokemon: The First Movie,” which earned $31 million back when a dollar was a dollar. “Dragon Ball” installments have opened in the $20s, and the last big “Demon Slayer” (Mugen Train) cleared $20.

I no longer bother reviewing these long running action fantasy franchises as their arcane “universes” are hard to drop into, mid-“story,” the stories aren’t much and the animation’s a far cry from the best anime. But to each his or her own.

Reviews are unreliable on these titles, as a lot of critics, like me, don’t bother with production line “content” anime better suited to TV series, and those who do either are into the films, or are too often content to pander to those who are.

“Conjuring: Last Rites” made a boatload of cash last weekend ($84 million), so much that a 70% falloff means it still earned $26 million this weekend, that fall-off-a-cliff is good enough for second place. Horror fans are fright comfort food fanatics and tend to go for established franchises, even ones as gassed as this.

“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” appeals to an older audience — I was the youngest guy in the theater when I saw it — and as eager as fans of that Brit/PBS soap opera franchise might be, they tend to get around to it later in the weekend, and the second and third weeks.

“The Grand Finale” may repeat plot twists from earlier in the series, but it gives the fans what they want and wraps up the saga with an $18 million opening weekend, third best for the Sept. 12-14 frame. Not great. This franchise is probably played out.

Stephen King’s name and endless hype on TV and online and comically generous reviews (it doesn’t quite stick the allegory and never really “entertains”) didn’t give “The Long Walk” the boost it needed. It only cleared $11 million  A fourth place finish six weeks before Halloween, with “Conjuring” well over $100 on its way to $135 by Monday is pitiful.

Disney/Pixar’s re-release of “Toy Story” pushes “Bad Guys 2” into the mists of memory as $3.5 million in tickets look to be sold for this decades-old blockbuster.

“Weapons” drops out of the top five with a low tsingle digits weekend.

“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” could clear $3, maybe as much as five million, and crack the top ten. As comic mockumentaries go, it’s damned creaky.

“Hamilton,” the filmed version of the play that streamed four years ago is still in the top ten.

The three big new releases and the one (“Spinal Tap”) modest one will push four summer films out of the top ten — probably “Jaws” “The Roses” and “The Bad Guys 2,” and “Caught Stealing..