And it’s “how it’s done”.
Netflix Capitalized on its “Kpop Demon Hunters” at the top of the graphic during the weekend with a two-day theatrical outing of its new singer version.
Box-office analysts have spent a large part of Sunday trying to determine exactly the performance of the animated functionality, based on anonymous leaders of rival studios and scratched data from ticket sales sites. Estimates vary from $ 16 million to $ 20 million for the Sing-Along interior race.
It’s smaller than recent national theatrical re -electrists like “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” and the 15th anniversary of “Coraline” – which generated $ 25 million and 33 million respectively – but higher than most of the re -educated films, including “Interstellar”, which allowed $ 15 million this year earlier.
The streaming company has never pointed out to the box office brushes publicly and refused to do it for this film. He also refused to comment on the press release when reached by CNBC.
But the buzz asked Wall Street to wonder if Netflix could change its air and put itself further in theaters.
Netflix has long used theatrical versions as a marketing tool to promote its streaming service. The company’s strategy has always been to host content on its platform for subscribers, rather than wider audiences on the big screen, and it rarely delays the release of work on the domestic market in favor of a theatrical race, except when it considers contents or special occasions.
“Kpop Demon Hunters” is the most recent exception. But experts say it is unlikely to rewrite Netflix rules.
“It changes absolutely nothing,” said industry analyst David Poland. “These are events for Netflix.”
There are a lot of discussions in the film sector of the film “Eventizing” – mainly by making theatrical release a show or an event not to be missed. Netflix was able to do it successfully because it is not a traditional studio. It does not stick to the typical exit windows, choosing to conclude ad hoc agreements with theater chain operators for each of his films.
This allows Netflix to avoid costly marketing campaigns, which are generally estimated at around half of everything that is spent for the production budget.
However, this strategy often puts Netflix in contradiction with the theatrical partners. For example, “Kpop Demon Hunters” was released in around 1,700 theaters, which represents a little more than a third of all domestic theaters. He did not appear in one AMC Theater, the largest cinema chain at the national and global level.
AMC refused the request for CNBC comments on the press release.
The exhibitor will work with Netflix, however, for the film “Narnia” by Greta Gerwig, which obtains an exclusive two -week world start in Imax Start of the day of Thanksgiving 2026.
Poland noted that Netflix offers favorable conditions with theaters when it comes to dividing ticket receipts, which can help encourage exhibitors to work with the company despite the windows of the smallest version.
“They do not care about money, and in this case, I guess they paid much more than the 50% who are normal for the exhibitors who read it, because it does not matter,” said Poland. “It’s not enough money to import them. But as a promotional event, it’s very successful.”
Already, “Kpop Demon Hunters”, which was launched on Netflix at the end of June, became the second most watched English film on Netflix, just behind “Red Opinion” of 2021. The film was viewed more than 210.5 million times, according to Netflix, around 20 million records.
The buzz song and pop culture of the theatrical version could help increase this even higher number.
“There was obviously a huge demand for the film and offered another example of the importance of the company’s theatrical cinematographic side to generate enormous advertising, create a cultural event and, in turn, a social media phenomenon,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.