“KPop Demon Hunters” may be coming back to theaters for a second weekend limited engagement, but Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says that’s not a sign of any major shift in the streamer’s strategy with regards to theatrical releases.
In Netflix’s latest quarterly earnings call Tuesday, Sarandos said that while the company was pleased with the results from the animated hit’s first two-day engagement in theaters back in August — exhibition sources reported an $18 million total — it still plans to release the majority of its films exclusively on streaming with a few exceptions, like Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” getting an abbreviated theatrical release.
“We believe that ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ worked because it was first released on Netflix,” Sarandos said. “We had something that people fell in love with … but not in a huge way on the first day or even the first weekend.”
As TheWrap reported in August, “KPop Demon Hunters” earned about 9 million views in its first weekend on Netflix, but that count exploded to 24 million views in its second weekend and never looked back en route to becoming the streamer’s most watched film ever.
“It was the super fans who watched the movie on repeat, driving the recommendation engine that got it in front of more super fans,” Sarandos said. “The ubiquity of our distribution took all the guess work out of figuring out how to watch it when people saw it pop up on their social media feeds. All of this contributed to ‘KPop’ blowing up all over the world in a way I’d argue couldn’t happen anywhere else.”
“KPop Demon Hunters” will be heading back to theaters with its sing-along version on Halloween weekend. During its first limited engagement, hundreds of sold-out screenings were reported with fans dressing up as Huntr/x, the K-Pop band from the film that secretly defends Seoul from demons led by the underworld ruler Gwi-Ma.
While Sarandos praised the theatrical engagement as an exciting experience for fans and a way to grow the rabid following “KPop Demon Hunters” has built over the past three months, he sees it as connected to the momentum-building potential that Netflix can bring at a time when original animation has struggled to find a foothold in theaters, even when word-of-mouth is positive.
“It’s been really fun to see this film breakthrough in pop culture in a way on par with some of the biggest theatrical films ever,” he said.
In a statement released last week with the announcement of “KPop” returning to theaters, AMC announced that it would be screening the film in 400 of its locations next weekend. It’s a notable thaw between the streamer and the world’s largest theater chain, which has not shown Netflix’s films due to its refusal to provide a full theatrical window.
“While the two companies have not had a commercial relationship in recent years, both Netflix and AMC are intrigued by the mutually beneficial opportunities that could arise from this and future collaboration,” AMC said. “Discussions are underway as to what that may entail, but no further details are being shared at this time.”
