While you watch KPop Demon Hunters, it’s simple to see why it has grow to be the most popular movie that Netflix has ever released. The animated musical’s story a few trio of pop stars tasked with defending humanity from monsters is familiar, however refreshingly totally different and infinitely extra fashionable than different narratives prefer it. The soundtrack is full of undeniable bangers that amplify the film’s attractive motion and by no means allow you to overlook that it’s a celebration of Korean tradition. KPop Demon Hunters additionally unabashedly facilities girls in a means that you just seldom see in style options from main studios like Sony, which produced the mission.
However the truth that KPop Demon Hunters feels prefer it got here out of nowhere is one other necessary a part of its meteoric success. And as Netflix units out to show the Huntr/x women into franchise stars with a sequel, the streamer wants a considerate technique if it needs to conjure up this type of film magic once more.
Netflix wouldn’t be in such an enviable place proper now if it had not entered an agreement with Sony back in 2021 giving it the unique US streaming rights to Sony Photos Leisure’s (SPE) big-screen options following their theatrical runs and residential leisure releases. As a part of the deal Sony may nonetheless promote direct-to-streaming motion pictures to different platforms. However Sony additionally agreed to give Netflix first-look rights to any of the movies it meant to make or license for streaming. This meant that Netflix, which might co-develop and launch these Sony tasks, may name dibs on something within the SPE pipeline earlier than its rivals had an opportunity to make presents. KPop Demon Hunters, which was first announced just a month earlier than Netflix and Sony’s deal grew to become official, was one of many motion pictures the streamer wished for itself.
Sony may have stored the film for itself by giving it a standard theatrical launch, which might have put the studio ready to gather no matter field workplace totals KPop Demon Hunters made the quaint means. However as Matt Belloni at Puck factors out, 2021 was a really totally different time for the leisure trade. Film theaters had been nonetheless closed because of the covid-19 pandemic, and Sony wanted a strategy to earn money with out counting on ticket gross sales. The deal gave Sony a strategy to preserve placing motion pictures out and reduce pandemic-related layoffs. And in change for footing all $100 million of KPop Demon Hunters’ production costs and paying Sony an additional $25 million payment, Netflix acquired to maintain the movie’s most worthwhile rights, together with merchandising.
It’s humorous to consider Sony execs shouting up on the sky and kicking themselves as Netflix soaks up all of the adulation for producing certainly one of this yr’s finest options. However the fact is, there actually was no means of understanding simply how a lot of successful KPop Demon Hunters would finally grow to be. Each studio desperately needs to place out hits and be seen as having a deep understanding of what will get individuals flocking to theaters. However figuring out hits within the making is an imprecise science that’s difficult by audiences’ fickle tastes, timing, and a lot of different elements.
What’s pretty clear about KPop Demon Hunters’ rising star is that its success was not rapid. It took time for the film to actually start gaining traction on Netflix. An enormous advertising and marketing push from Sony may need catapulted it to the highest of the field workplace if issues had gone that route. However KPop Demon Hunters appears like the proper instance of a film benefiting from this present second of popular culture consumption the place many individuals satisfaction themselves on discovering issues that they unexpectedly love, after which speeding to inform as many individuals as they will about stated issues.
The “shock” of all of it appears like an necessary a part of how KPop Demon Hunters grew to become KPop Demon Hunters as we at the moment understand it, and that type of vitality is difficult to duplicate. For one, extra individuals know this property now. The songs, merch, and fan artwork are all over the place you look, which speaks to the truth that the film’s viewership on Netflix has persistently grown because it began streaming in June. It’s in all probability going to be lengthy whereas earlier than the film’s hype calms a bit, however when (if?) it will definitely does, Netflix will want a stable plan to get the Huntr/x fan base reactivated for a sequel.
However the important thing takeaway from Frozen (2013) and Frozen 2 (2019) would possibly simply be that Netflix doesn’t have to rush the subsequent chapter of KPop Demon Hunters’ story. Even after a six-year wait, the Frozen sequel went on to grow to be the most profitable animated film of all time (an honor that now belongs to Ne Zha 2). And Netflix may obtain one thing related if it performs its playing cards proper.