KPop Demon Hunters is the all-time most-watched Netflix original film worldwide, but reaching No. 1 tells only part of the story about what makes this title stand apart from previous hit films on streaming.
When comparing KPDH with Netflix’s previous top releases on a U.S.-only basis using Luminate Streaming Viewership (M) data, its popularity actually pales against relatively recent Netflix hit films including Carry-On and Happy Gilmore 2 (a different success story addressed in a previous edition of Streaming Watch). Of course, that’s no knock on KPDH, which leveraged the international K-pop audience to capture a more globally diverse audience.
What separates KPop Demon Hunters from the pack, even in the U.S., is how different its audience pattern played out. It’s a distinct departure from the average Netflix hit movie, which typically opens massive in its first week before falling back to earth relatively quickly.
KPDH, on the other hand, opened much softer but has shockingly held steady over its first 10 weeks, having yet to see a significant week-over-week drop in U.S. viewership. It’s not uncommon for an animated title to enjoy strong ongoing viewership, but that is typically reserved for theatrical-first titles such as Moana, Minions or Mario Bros. This is the first Netflix exclusive, live action or animated, to experience such a triumph outside of opening weekend.
What’s more, the demo composition skews far younger than the average Netflix hit film, with 31% of the KPDH audience under 18 and 50% under 34. The film spread through music as well, which Luminate wrote about earlier this week in our music-centric Tuesday Takeaway, making it no surprise the title over-indexes with the difficult to reach <18 demo.
The immediate availability of KPDH on Netflix for fans to rewatch, share clips and learn dances has led to more viral moments on social media that just further the film’s growth. Recent theatrical movies have had success fanning similar viral flames. (Think Wicked’s “What Is This Feeling?” book dance and Minecraft’s “Chicken Jockey.”)
While virality can happen with a traditional box office release, Netflix is uniquely positioned to release a film then pivot after seeing what fans glom onto, thus allowing for organic social growth.
KPDH ran a special sing-along version in theaters last weekend and earned an estimated $18 million-$20 million — hitting that impressive number despite not playing at AMC locations and running in just half the theaters of the weekend’s No. 2 movie, Weapons.
Had KPDH initially opened in theaters with soft viewership (as it did on SVOD), its screen count would have plummeted in a crowded summer movie season. It’s likely the film would have legged out and been profitable like Disney’s Elemental, which had a poor global opening weekend in 2023 but held on to earn $496 million. The mass cultural impact of KPDH has more long-term value for the new franchise, though — and that’s probably only possible on Netflix.
While the “viral global surprise” isn’t unfamiliar territory for Netflix (remember the first season of Squid Game?), KPDH represents a (potential) new model for its film success — modest titles with a justifiable floor of built-in audience that could explode across the streamer’s unmatched global subscriber base.
The only question is … when will KPDH finally drop off? Keep track using Luminate Streaming Viewership (M).
