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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ led domestic weekend box office in | |
unexpected win | |
By Auzinea Bacon, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:25 PM EDT, Mon August 25, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
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 , with more | |
than 210 million views, and its 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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