KPop Demon Hunters Could Be Netflix’s New Biggest Movie Dethroning Red Notice

A few years ago, Netflix began updating an official chart of its most-streamed movies of all time every week. In 2021, Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot’s expensive action blockbuster Red Notice jumped to the top of the charts with a mammoth 230 million views and has remained there, unmatched.

One of the more recent Netflix efforts, and one of Sofia Carson’s best movies, Carry-On currently holds the number 2 spot on the list, with 172,100,000 views totaling 344,100,000 hours. The top three are currently rounded out by Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay’s star-studded awards contender from 2022.

The most-watched Netflix movies represent all kinds of different kinds of entertainment, with movies like Leave the World Behind and The Adam Project both making it into the top ten.

Many top Netflix movies have big stars or directors involved. Bird Box became one of Sandra Bullock’s best movies, and The Gray Man was bolstered both by its star-studded cast of Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans and by its directorial talent. Still, a new movie with little of this same appeal may soon climb to the top of this list.

KPop Demon Hunters Has Climbed To 4th All-Time On Netflix’s Charts

In a shocking development, KPop Demon Hunters has become the fourth most-watched movie of all time on Netflix. Demon Hunters‘ addition to the most popular Netflix movies became possible in recent weeks, as the film’s popularity has continued to soar globally.

Following its release on June 20, the animated movie with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score quickly rose up Netflix’s charts. It finished its first week with 9.2 million views, which was good for second place that week.

Since then, KPop Demon Hunters has turned in six consecutive weeks with over 20 million views. It pulled in 24.2 million views in week 2, 22.7 million views in week 3, 24.2 million views in week 4, 25.8 million views in week 5, 26.3 million views in week 6, and 26.3 million views again in week 7.

That is how KPop Demon Hunters has earned 158.8 million views to this point and jumped into fourth place on Netflix’s charts. Through it all, it has been the first or second most-streamed movie on the platform the entire time.

Directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, the new film’s success is unprecedented. Developed with Sony Pictures Animation, it is seeing success that draws comparison to Disney’s Frozen, with great music, strong female characters, and a compelling and rewatchable story. The property has become an immediate franchise, with multiple sequels, spinoffs, and a live-action remake already confirmed.

KPop Demon Hunters tells the story of HUNTR/X, an international girl group, whose members are also demon hunters. Tasked with an ongoing mission to defeat Gwi-Ma, the three main characters are influenced by Korean stars and idols and are depicted in stunning animation, both in battle and onstage.

The appeal of KPop Demon Hunters is unique. The film tells a story about K-pop, one of the biggest genres of music in the world, but adds in clever science-fiction elements. The movie is funny, edgy, and smart, and features beautiful animation alongside strong characters in Rumi and Jinu among the rest of their respective bands.

K-pop fans are passionate and make up a large proportion of the global audience. Following the massive success of projects like Squid Game and the 2019 success of Parasite, Korean media has become much bigger on the global stage. While Demon Hunters is an American production, it brings in much of its talent from Korean creatives.

Even the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is huge, with songs like “Golden” dominating worldwide charts. This success is incredible and not totally foreseen. Streaming movies don’t tend to have great legs like this. Since this one does, it’s in a rare spot to keep generating strong viewership figures going forward.

KPop Demon Hunter’s Popularity Gives It A Shot To Beat Red Notice For #1

Red Notice was a big hit for Netflix, but it did not hold on. The reviews for Red Notice weren’t strong, and despite audiences watching it to see Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot onscreen together, few returned regularly to the movie, and it has largely faded from the public consciousness.

Meanwhile, KPop Demon Hunters has only grown stronger with time. Following a strong debut, the film has continued to dominate the charts, making history by having its highest viewership in its fifth week on Netflix. Audiences continue to discover the film, and many have returned to it repeatedly.

This is largely due to the very strong quality of the movie. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score for KPop Demon Hunters is excellent, sitting at 92%. With the critical acclaim and strong word of mouth, it looks likely that the coming weeks will only lift it even higher.

With only a little more than 70 million more views required for KPop to overtake Red Notice‘s 230,900,000 views, it looks likely that this could occur in the coming weeks. With the recent announcements of sequels to KPop Demon Hunters, the film has received another spike in popularity. Especially considering the streaming success of animation, the film’s prospects are great.

Animation is huge at home, as can be seen with films like Moana being the most-streamed movie of 2023 a full seven years after its initial release. Many movies that connect with young audiences are watched repeatedly, and KPop Demon Hunters shouldcontinue to add numbers to its viewership in the short and long term.

This will enable the movie to keep climbing up Netflix’s all-time charts. It will beat Don’t Look Up and Carry-On in the next week or so to get into the second-place spot if interest remains steady.

That will leave about a 50 million views gap between the animated hit and Red Notice. Even if some demand slips, KPop Demon Hunters should have a full month left to make up that ground and dethrone Dwayne Johnson’s blockbuster for Netflix’s top spot all time.