By Ben Fritz and Elias Leight

Netflix has released hundreds of straight-to-streaming movies over the past decade, but none have captured the pop-culture zeitgeist the way big-screen blockbusters such as "Barbie" and "Wicked" have. Until "KPop Demon Hunters."

The animated movie about a Korean girls band battling invaders from the underworld is now the most watched Netflix original film of all time, with 236 million views in 10 weeks. Nobody with children is surprised. Families have been watching "KPop Demon Hunters" on repeat since its June 20 release and anyone who has heard the soundtrack has found themselves uncontrollably humming its songs, such as poppy anthem "Golden."

A singalong version was Netflix's first-ever No. 1 movie at the box office last weekend. Social media is full of fans dancing and parents confessing they have been sucked in. Retailers are scrambling to get "KPop Demon Hunters" merchandise on their shelves after most passed on the opportunity two years ago. It has become a phenomenon on the scale of Disney's "Frozen."

Now Netflix and Sony Group's Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produced "KPop," are in talks for a sequel, as well as content to keep fans engaged during the years it will take to make another movie, executives at both companies said. Netflix's film chief is even considering a live-action version further in the future.

At a time when long-running series such as Fast & Furious are losing steam and studios are obsessed with videogame adaptations such as "Minecraft," "KPop Demon Hunters" is Hollywood's first totally original -- and ultrapopular -- film franchise in years.

Sony's side door

One of the hottest topics of conversation in Hollywood this summer has been why everyone was blindsided by "KPop's" success.

Streaming films typically appear on an app with little advance publicity and go unnoticed by most people. Even the most popular, such as Netflix's former No. 1 "Red Notice," come and go in a few weeks.

When veteran producer Dan Lin took over Netflix's motion-picture business last year, he wanted to prove the streamer can match the success of the biggest theatrical hits. He didn't expect "KPop Demon Hunters" would be the first film to do it.

"We thought we made a very good movie for the K-pop audience and for the anime audience," Lin said.

"KPop" came to Netflix through a side door. In 2021, it signed a deal to stream all of Sony's movies after they play in theaters. The agreement also included a commitment to spend at least $600 million producing films that Sony had in development for direct release on Netflix.

One of the first Sony projects Netflix picked up was "KPop Demon Hunters, " which had been in development for three years. Co-director Maggie Kang based the idea on the mythology of her Korean roots and her childhood love for K-pop music.

Netflix paid Sony $20 million on top of the nearly $100 million production budget to stream "KPop" and is paying an extra $5 million to keep those rights in perpetuity, according to people with knowledge of the arrangement. The two companies are sharing proceeds from the soundtrack.

During production, Kang was anxious about how the movie would be received given how "weird" its K-pop songs and anime style are for a big-budget Hollywood production.

Sony Pictures Animation President Kristine Belson said in light of the many original films that have flopped at the box office recently, she was hopeful a streaming release would make it easier for audiences to sample and fall for "KPop."

Going up, up, up

"KPop Demon Hunters" was watched 24.2 million times in its first full week on Netflix, a solid performance but far below the debut of July's "Happy Gilmore 2," an Adam Sandler sequel that had seemed certain to be the streamer's biggest movie of the summer.

Like most Netflix hits, viewership for "Happy Gilmore 2" fell rapidly after the first week. But thanks in large part to repeat viewing by families, "KPop" has garnered about 25 million views a week for nine weeks straight. Lin said that level of consistency is "extremely rare" for Netflix originals. The soundtrack has also defied the usual trend for hit albums of a huge debut followed by a fast drop-off.

"I literally don't know when it's going to stop," said Belson. "It feels like it won't, but obviously it has to."

Daniel Sanchez discovered "KPop Demon Hunters" on TikTok and thought it would be a good way to get his 8-year-old daughter Penelope, who loves singing, into animated movies. They have watched it at least once a week since and the soundtrack is on repeat in their car.

"It's important for my daughter to see women on screen who she can identify with that are strong," said the 28-year-old from Glendora, Calif., who attended the singalong screening with Penelope on Sunday.

When the movie was launched, the only official products were sold in Netflix's online store. By late summer, retailers started rushing out branded clothing and ramen-noodle packets -- a favorite of the movie's heroines. Bootleg costumes, dolls and birthday-party supplies for sale mushroomed online.

Now Netflix is fielding calls from would-be licensees eager to get products on shelves for Halloween and the holidays.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com and Elias Leight at elias.leight@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 26, 2025 19:00 ET (23:00 GMT)

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