According to a new report from Puck, Sony Pictures is watching from the sidelines as one of the summer’s biggest cultural phenomena unfolds. KPop Demon Hunters, an anime-style musical about a K-pop girl group that doubles as a team of monster fighters, has become a runaway hit on Netflix, yet the studio that developed and produced it is seeing little of the upside.
The film, released in June, is now Netflix’s No. 2 most-watched English-language movie of all time, with more than 184 million views and counting. It will easily surpass Red Notice as the streamer’s top-performing original by the time its 91-day release window – Netflix’s metric for tracking viewership info – has passed. The soundtrack has also exploded, with seven songs in Spotify’s global Top 50 and the single “Golden” topping the Billboard Hot 100.
Despite conceiving and financing the project through Sony Pictures Animation, the studio sold distribution rights to Netflix under a 2021 output deal. According to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, that agreement capped Sony’s earnings at roughly $20 million, a fraction of what a theatrical release or long-term franchise ownership might have generated. Netflix, meanwhile, controls sequels, spinoffs, and the lucrative music tie-ins, though Sony retains the right to produce follow-up films.
The decision reflects the uncertainty of the pandemic era, when theaters were shuttered and Sony, lacking its own streaming service, leaned on Netflix as a guaranteed buyer. At the time, licensing titles like The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Greyhound was seen as a wise move. But with the benefit of hindsight, the runaway success of KPop Demon Hunters underscores the long-term revenue potential the studio left on the table.
Whether the film would have been as successful in theaters remains a hotly debated question in industry circles. Most original animated titles have struggled at the box office post-COVID, and many insiders doubt an anime-inspired musical would have found a broad audience. Yet Netflix’s algorithm, viral chatter, a red-hot soundtrack, and the global reach of K-pop fandom combined to turn the film into the streamer’s first true animated blockbuster.
As Belloni notes, Netflix now owns not just a hit movie but an emerging franchise, one that could spawn sequels, merchandise, and a long tail of streaming and music revenue. Sony, meanwhile, is left to console itself with limited rights and the hope that future installments will bring greater rewards.
