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In just two days, Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” sing-along surged to the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office, reportedly selling out more than 1,000 screens as fans seized the one-weekend opportunity.
The streaming giant’s limited-release event was an unexpected win for the animated movie, which was released for streaming on June 20. The movie grossed an estimated $18 million over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, a website owned by IMDb that tracks box office data. Netflix does not share its earnings for theatrical runs.
“It caught a lot of people off guard for the last few weeks, in terms of how popular it was,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of analytics firm Box Office Theory. “Its ability to surprise everyone in the industry says a lot for a movie that a lot of people had already watched many, many times.”
The debut makes “KPop Demon Hunters” the first No. 1 spot at the box office for Netflix. The movie is Netflix’s second most-popular English movie, with more than 210 million views, and its most-watched original animated film, according to the company. (“Red Notice” is the most popular English-language Netflix movie.)
“KPop Demon Hunters,” which was produced by Sony Pictures Animation, debuted a sing-along version in 1,700 theaters on Saturday and Sunday, according to Box Office Mojo. The sing-along version will be on the streaming platform Monday.
“It’s doing what it’s supposed to do. The movie arrived as a phenomenon, and the phenomenon is growing,” wrote David A. Gross, who publishes movie industry newsletter FranchiseRe.
Gross said that “KPop Demon Hunters” opened similarly to the first two days of Beyoncé’s and Taylor Swift’s concert films, which were also built on “fanatical entertainment experiences.” In 2023, “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” opened to $21 million domestically, according to Box Office Mojo.
“This type of success is good for everybody,” said Robbins, who noted that Netflix does not often open theatrically and has a “fragmented relationship” with theater owners. “This weekend should be taken as a positive step toward how they can work together in the future.”
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Weapons,” which is now in its third week on the big screens, fell short of Netflix’s big hit with $15.6 million in sales this weekend, according to media analytics firm Comscore. That brings Zach Cregger’s horror film to an estimated $115.8 million in earnings since its debut. (Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.)
“Weapons” continued to hold off Disney’s “Freakier Friday” ($9.2 million), the sequel to the 2003 comedy “Freaky Friday.” Disney also held on to the fourth spot at the box office as Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” earned another $5.9 million, racking up roughly $257 million in domestic earnings, according to Comscore data.
The sudden success of “KPop Demon Hunters,” which added millions to the box office haul, is “a much better ending to summer” than industry analysts anticipated, Robbins said.
The summer movie season, which Comscore begins tracking on the first Friday of May, has so far grossed $3.5 billion. Despite big hits like Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” which has grossed $421.7 million domestically, some movies, like Disney’s “Elio” ($72.93 million), fell short of expectations.
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