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Fortune
Fortune
Dave Smith

Sony sold Netflix the rights to ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ in a pandemic-era safety play—and now it’s Netflix’s biggest movie ever

Ted Sarandos is all smiles (Credit: Emma McIntyre—WireImage/Getty Images)
  • KPop Demon Hunters is a bona fide megahit for Netflix, this week becoming its most-watched movie ever with 236 million views, while making Billboard history with four simultaneous top 10 hits. Sony Pictures Animation, which spent $100 million creating the phenomenon, will reportedly net only $20 million owing to a pandemic-era distribution deal. The outcome represents a massive missed opportunity for Sony, as Netflix now controls what could become a multibillion-dollar franchise.

Netflix has a monster hit on its hands, and it’s not what anyone expected. KPop Demon Hunters, an animated film about a K-pop girl group who are also demon hunters, has officially become Netflix’s most-watched movie ever with 236 million views, dethroning the previous record-holder Red Notice and its 230.9 million views. The milestone comes just 67 days after the film’s June 20 debut, making it one of the fastest climbs to the top of Netflix’s all-time charts.

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