Sony Boss Says KPOP DEMON HUNTERS Wouldn’t Have Been as Big in Theaters, But I’m Not Buying It
Despite becoming Netflix’s biggest movie ever, KPop Demon Hunters apparently still hasn’t convinced Sony Pictures that it could have conquered the theatrical box office. I’m going to have to disagree with them on this one.
The animated hit has become one of the biggest movie success stories of the past decade, racking up more than 325 million streams on Netflix. That puts it roughly 100 million ahead of Red Notice, the streamer’s second most-watched movie.
Those are huge numbers for an original movie, but Ravi Ahuja, the head of Sony Pictures, believes Netflix played a major role in allowing KPop Demon Hunters to become the phenomenon it is today.
He also isn’t convinced the movie would have found the same level of success had Sony gone with a traditional theatrical release.
Speaking with Variety, Ahuja explained: "It seems very obvious now, but at the time it was first being developed in 2021, Netflix felt like the right home, and I'd argue it really was the right home. I mean, if you look at the trajectory of K-Pop Demon Hunters, it didn't start that strong, but it built over time."
He continued: "So the Netflix platform really helped to build K-Pop Demon Hunters. Had it been theatrical, I mean, boy, this is such a hypothetical. Who knows if it would have had a big opening weekend? But it’s done incredibly well on Netflix."
There’s certainly evidence supporting his argument. KPop Demon Hunters didn’t arrive as an instant monster hit, but there wasn’t a lot of marketing pushing it. A theatrical release would’ve had a much stronger marketing campaign. During its first week on Netflix in June 2025, the movie pulled in nine million views and landed at No. 2 on the movie chart.
A week later, viewership jumped to 24 million, and the film continued attracting audiences for months. It remained in Netflix’s Top 10 for an incredible 63 consecutive weeks.
Word of mouth was a huge part of the movie’s success. Since KPop Demon Hunters was an original property rather than an established franchise with a built-in audience, Netflix gave viewers plenty of time to discover it, recommend it, rewatch it, obsess over the songs, and bring more people into the party.
A traditional theatrical release of a film could also explode because of owrd of mouth. That isn’t a Netflix exlusive thing. I’m just not buying the idea that theaters wouldn’t have worked for this movie.
Maybe this is something Sony executives need to tell themselves so they can sleep a little better after watching a movie they made turn into Netflix’s most-watched film ever.
Because if KPop Demon Hunters had received a proper theatrical marketing campaign and audiences had been able to experience those songs with a packed crowd from the start, I’m convinced it would have been a massive box office hit.
Now, after the movie became a success on Netflix, they eventually released a special singalong version of KPop Demon Hunters in theaters, and it became a major theatrical success for the streamer.
Sure, that happened after the movie had already become enormously popular, but it also proved that audiences were willing to leave their couches and pay to see it on the big screen.
Instead, Sony gets to look at those 325 million-plus streams and wonder exactly how much money might have been sitting on the table. Saying the movie needed Netflix to become what it became certainly makes that easier to swallow.
Either way, KPop Demon Hunters has turned into something much bigger than anyone expected when it was being developed back in 2021. Netflix already has a sequel in development, although fans are going to be waiting quite a while for it. KPop Demon Hunters 2 currently isn’t expected to arrive until at least 2029.
When that sequel finally shows up, Netflix and Sony might want to think a little harder about giving it a proper theatrical run. At this point, there probably won’t be much mystery about whether people will show up.