Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is the feature film adapting the Reze arc (chapters 39–52 of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga), continuing directly from the first season of the anime produced by MAPPA. The film follows Denji as he meets Reze, a mysterious girl working at a café, and his encounter with the Bomb Devil. It was directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara.
Release dates
- Japan: September 19, 2025, with special midnight screenings in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Hokkaido
- Vietnam: September 26, 2025
- Formats: IMAX, 4DX, MX4D and Dolby Cinema in many markets
Box office
In Japan, the film opened in 421 theaters, selling 807,000 tickets and earning about 1.25 billion yen (~$8.46 million) in its opening week. It then passed 10 billion yen in the domestic market. Before opening in the US and UK, it had already grossed more than $68 million from its release in 13 Asian markets; its final worldwide total reached about $191.4 million. In the US, around 63% of the gross came from premium formats such as IMAX and 3D.
Why is a $191.4 million gross impressive? A feature film adapted from a TV anime (rather than a wholly new original film) usually has a much lower international ceiling than a family animation or superhero film, because its audience is mostly fans who followed the original series. For Reze Arc to pass $191 million worldwide, with 63% of its US gross coming from premium formats like IMAX, suggests Chainsaw Man has moved beyond the core anime audience to attract general viewers willing to pay extra for a high-quality theater experience, something few anime-adapted films have achieved at this scale.
Reception
The film earned 100% from critics (based on 14 reviews at the time of reporting) and 99% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, along with an A CinemaScore. It is the second adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's work to hit 100% on the platform, after Look Back (2024).
What's next
MAPPA announced at Jump Festa 2026 that Chainsaw Man Season 2 – Assassins Arc is in production. There is no air date yet; sources suggest 2027 at the earliest.
OtaHub's take
Reze Arc becoming the second Tatsuki Fujimoto adaptation to hit 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, after Look Back, strengthens his standing as one of the authors whose adaptations have been most consistent in quality, something not every manga author can sustain when the adaptations are made by different studios. For MAPPA, this box office success also creates positive pressure and high expectations for the upcoming Assassins Arc: audiences now expect visual quality and storytelling pace on par with the film, a much higher bar than when the TV anime's first season was just starting to air.
Updated September 24, 2026: this article was rewritten based on verified sources; the previous version contained outdated or inaccurate information.
Sources: Anime News Network, Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes (via IMDb/ScreenRant), Anime Corner.
