"KPop Demon Hunters" Was a Box Office Smash for Netflix

For most of its existence, Netflix has, understandably, avoided putting its movies in theaters. Outside of the world of awards, it keeps titles on its service for the simple reason that it is primarily a streaming company.

The success of KPop Demon Hunters on the service has been so overwhelming, though, that Netflix broke its own rule and decided to make some extra cash on the movie, releasing it for a limited two-day window in more than 1,000 theaters across the country, per NBC News. Now that that release window is over, many are naturally wondering how the movie did. Here's what we know.

Rival studios estimated that the movie made between $16 and $20 million over the course of its two-day release, according to CNBC. This is a remarkable achievement given that the movie was still available to watch on Netflix. That places it on the high end of releases of this kind, behind just Coraline and Revenge of the Sith, and speaks to the movie's overwhelming popularity. It's also now the most-watched movie on Netflix.

The movie's success in theaters is, according to CNBC, just a promotional strategy on Netflix's part, though, and is unlikely to signal an overall shift in their approach to releasing movies in theaters.

Netflix has long suggested that the theatrical model is outdated, arguing that most people would rather watch something from the comfort of their couch than travel miles to a theater.

Of course, the success of KPop Demon Hunters in theaters seems to undercut that point, at least to some extent. Even after a hugely successful release on Netflix, there were still plenty of people who wanted to experience the movie on a giant screen with as many other people as possible. Of course, this is also a great activity for parents to do with their kids, so that probably didn't hurt either.

There are some cases, though, where Netflix is at least willing to bend the rules on its policy of sending things straight to streaming. Typically, those rules are bent because Netflix wants to work with a particular filmmaker, and those filmmakers often want their movies to play in theaters. Rian Johnson, who already made Glass Onion for Netflix, has strongly advocated that his movies be shown in theaters before hitting the streaming service.

Greta Gerwig got even more of a concession from the company for her upcoming adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia. That movie will be getting an exclusive two-week theatrical run in partnership with IMAX around Thanksgiving of 2026 before hitting the streaming service. Given the remarkable success of Barbie, Greta was definitely in a position to exercise some leverage.

More broadly, though, the success of KPop Demon Hunters isn't going to signal a strategy change for Netflix. They are a streaming company first and foremost, and they want people to watch their stuff at home.