Even if you haven’t contributed to one of the 236 million views since its June 20 release on Netflix, chances are you’re aware of KPop Demon Hunters. The title of the animated musical is pretty self-explanatory: a K-pop band who hunts demons. Niche genre? I direct you again to the 236 million views, officially making it Netflix’s most-watched film. Ever. While most Netflix films debut with a strong opening then peter out, KPop Demon Hunters has grown in viewership each week, and still sits at number one. It probably hasn’t even peaked yet. And it’s a musical, with hit songs that are similarly breaking Billboard chart records. An all-around success story? Well, not for Sony Pictures Animation. The movie was technically made by Sony, but they sold it to Netflix in 2021 for a flat fee of $20 million, in exchange for Netflix picking up the $100 million production budget tab. It was Sony’s standard deal for making/releasing animated flicks during the pandemic. But KPop Demon Hunters is the unicorniest of all blockbusters, and the industry is publicly opining on how much Sony dropped the bag:
The little animated film that could: “KPop Demon Hunters” has become Netflix’s most-watched movie ever with over 236 million views. Four songs from its soundtrack are simultaneously in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 — something that’s literally never happened in the chart’s 67-year history. “Golden” sits at #1, marking the first time a girl group has topped the chart since Destiny’s Child — and a fictional one at that. And Sony’s take from all this success? Still that same $20 million.
Netflix’s Frozen? The comparison isn’t hyperbole. “KPop Demon Hunters” became the first Netflix original film to go “up, up, up” to a new viewing peak in its sixth week — 26.3 million views, topping week five (25.8 million) and week four (24.2 million). When Netflix tested theatrical sing-along screenings on August 23-24, they grossed $18-20 million in just two days across 1,700 theaters, with most screenings completely sold out — despite the movie being “Free” to stream at home. Think about that: Netflix made Sony’s entire profit margin in a single weekend. From sing-alongs. Of a movie that had been streaming for two months.
Music to Netflix’s ears: The music revenue alone is staggering: With 2.3 billion streams and counting as of August, at Spotify’s average payout of $0.003-0.004 per stream, that’s roughly $7-9 million Sony won’t see. “Golden” sitting at #1 on Billboard and now nominated for Song of the Summer at the 2025 MTV VMAs is an industry first — competing against real-life artists like Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter? Those sync licenses for commercials and TV shows? The inevitable TikTok licensing deals?
Sony could wrangle some money out of sequel talks: Netflix and Sony are reportedly in talks for a sequel, but here’s the kicker: under their 2021 agreement, Netflix owns all the rights. While nothing has been officially announced, sources indicate Netflix wants to build a full trilogy. Since Netflix owns all underlying IP rights, they could theoretically continue the franchise with or without Sony Pictures Animation. … Sony’s best play? Use the sequel negotiations to claw back some revenue participation.
It’s so wild, all of it! The movie being such a runaway hit to begin with; the fact that Netflix made Sony’s flat fee of $20M in one weekend of theatrical release, which happened two months into people being able to stream it at home; plus Huntrix — the film’s girl group — being nominated up against real life stars at an award show. And speaking of, who told you last week that “Golden” was likely headed to an Oscar nom?! I am SO happy that, yet again, a woman-centric film is defying critical and commercial odds, and becoming such a huge cultural moment. And I have NO expectation whatsoever that Hollywood will learn from this.
As for Sony (sad clown noise), Yahoo actually laid out some sequel bargaining points for them — for free! They can fight for a percentage of merch sales from future films, higher fees tied to performance metrics, and co-ownership of any new characters. Yahoo also stressed that KPop Demon Hunters having Sony’s signature animation style was probably their biggest card to play. In the meantime, Sony can lick their wounds with their Spider-Man franchise. No, not the successful Marvel one owned by Disney; the other one that brought us Venom and Madame Web. (Again, sad clown noise.)
Photos credit: Ricky Middlesworth/Netflix via Netflix press
I admit I’ve watched it 4 times and my daughter has even more (although only once together) so that’s probably 10 views right there.
In hindsight I don’t think Sony could have predicted this, nobody did. But it proves that not only is K-pop not on the wane but it has huge crossover appeal.
We are definitely getting all the sequels, prequels, live action etc… Urgh I hope they don’t drop the ball and do a crap cash grab
True.
I think some people in the West still underestimate the power of Kpop.
It has been on the rise since the late 1990s, first conquering Korea, then Japan, then more countries in Asia and then finally the rest of the world.
I’ve seen it grown from a very niche thing in the West on Livejournal to what it is now.
Though it is often stereotyped as cheerful pop, there are also many songs that tackle other subjects. Several of BTS’s songs, for instance, tackle mental health (which is more of a taboo topic in many of the countries where Kpop started its rise, to politics and class differences).
Same goes for more and more of the other groups. BTS members speaking up for LGBTQ+ is also a big thing in a socially somewhat conservative country like South Korea.
I know many Kpop fans and there people of all ages and backgrounds.
I love seeing the diversity in the audience at concerts.
Twice is the girl group who are also on the soundtrack. This group consists of nine very talented ladies from Korea, Japan and Taiwan that have a very large discography as well. They’re in their tenth year already.
I think the film’s popularity is a combination of Twice fans talking about it from the start, Kpop fans being curious enough to check it out and general audiences also talking checking it out and then it spread further.
The songs are amazing, so that also helped it grow viral. With the song and the movie supporting each other’s rise to the top, similar to what Frozen did.
My 14 year old made wine watch it, and I loved it! Both my girls 14 AND 17 have watched it multiple times!
It’s a sure fire way to get my 15 year old son to spend time with me! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it, and the end still makes me tear up.
So happy for everyone involved especially singer/songwriter EJAE! The music was all made by real people coming out of the Kpop world and is such a big part of its success
Couldn’t give this film higher praise than saying my notoriously fussy husband has watched this multiple times, has favourite songs from the soundtrack, and would happily watch it again. It’s the little film that could! Love the music, love the art style, love the heart, but yeah most of it love that it’s a women led film starring actually women characters who emote and eat and are silly and distinctive, and that their fears are so understandable, and they’re sexy without being sexualised, and they have genuine relationships.. And that people turned out for all of this! I just love it.
as someone who loves quality animation and has dabbled in the kpop world a bit over the years, i admit i was not excited about it. i thought it was a cash grab for kpop fandom money. but then it started appearing in my algorithm, and the animation looked so great. samdoesarts on youtube did a spoiler free review that finally pushed me to watch it (comparing it to elio, focusing on the artistic differences, which i appreciated). and i loved it. it reminded me of the best disney movies from my younger days-quality animation, amazing vocal work, great songs and a heart-felt but not too cheesy message. as a kpop fan, the movie got so much of that world right. i just loved everything about it. and hearing the directors talk about the importance of representation and what that actually means to a film like this has been great too. pixar has been nothing but disappointments lately, so i was so happy to see something great. and i believe sony has the miles morales spiderman timeline-those are some more high quality animated movies, if you haven’t seen them.
I don’t know. I think word of mouth is easy to follow up on when you are clicking a button on a service you already subscribe to, much harder when it means going to the theater and buying a ticket. I watched, but don’t know that I would have gone to the theater. And all those summer endless rewatches by kids home for summer.
So Sony dropped the bag. The film probably would have hit the $300 million needed for a 100M film to break even, but people are acting like it would have sold 200M+ tickets and I don’t think that’s true.
That’s a good point, things don’t tend to hang around in the cinemas to grow like this and while I did succumb to curiosity and watch it (because we already have Netflix) but wouldn’t have gone to the cinema for it.
My daughter who’s in middle school watches it. It looks cute. That’s all I know about it.
My kids are OBSESSED. So I organized a meetup for one of the singalong screenings with their friends, and they all dressed up. My 13 year-old stole my bathrobe to cosplay as Bobby, Huntrix’s manager! (And a couple of days later, I busted my husband watching it by himself because he had chosen not to go with us – he loved it, and periodically I catch him humming “Golden.”)
What’s super wild to me is that this sort of soundtrack reaction hasn’t happened since 1995’s “Waiting to Exhale.” WILD.
I haven’t seen it yet but I want to. My 10 year old son really wants to as well so I think that might be a movie night this weekend. I think it looks fun and look, I’ll be honest – I’m heading into big volunteer season at my kids school where I’m surrounded by 8-10 year olds for hours a week (school play lol) and I need to be up to speed so I understand what’s being said around me lmao.
Plus, it looks fun. I dont know anything about Kpop other than its a thing so I figure this might be a fun entry point.
I don’t have Netflix, so there’s little chance I will see it, anytime soon, but kudos to the filmmakers. Let’s hope female-led films become the norm, sooner, rather than later.
Adding to my list of things to watch. Looks like fun!
I loved this movie!!! I resisted for a while because it seemed a little shallow whatever but it is so deep actually!