When KPop Demon Hunters premiered on Netflix on June 20, 2025, expectations were modest.
The film saw a respectable nine million views on its opening weekend. However, by its fifth week of release, the film was recording nearly 26 million weekly views, an unprecedented uptick for the streaming service. The total views now stand at more than 130 million in less than two months, making it Netflix’s most-watched animated film of all time.
Why KPop Demon Hunters succeeds
The film’s success is attributable to several factors. Firstly, it is wholly original intellectual property (IP), not a reboot or adaptation.
It follows Huntr/x, a fictional K-pop girl group that moonlights as demon hunters. Throughout the film, Huntr/x forms a rivalry with a demonic boy band, the Saja Boys. The film combines the pop-idol culture of South Korea with supernatural action, told with unique animation and a bold anime-inspired aesthetic. Simply put, it is a mix of styles unlike anything else, and it appears at a time when film fans are crying out for new stories.
The second reason for its breakout success is its soundtrack. The lead song, “Golden” by Huntr/x, hit the number one spot on the Billboard Global 200 chart, while “Your Idol” by the Saja Boys reached the top spot on the US Spotify daily chart, the first male K-pop group to do so. The full soundtrack debuted in the Billboard 200 top 10, the highest debut for an animated film soundtrack in 2025, and it went to number one on Billboard’s Soundtracks list, too.
Lastly, KPop Demon Hunters caught fire on social media, particularly on TikTok, where dances set to “Golden” and “Your Idol” were especially popular. Clips from the film, fan-made edits, and cosplay videos racked up millions of views, helping the film to reach an audience outside of animation or K-pop fans. This word of mouth was instrumental in its success, allowing it to reach a wider audience of teens and tweens and massively boosting the soundtrack.
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By GlobalDataWhat this means for Netflix
The film marks a turning point for Netflix. The company, alongside Sony Pictures Animation, now claims original animated IP that can stand alongside Disney and Pixar in the family films space.
Historically, Netflix has relied on existing IP for its animation and has seen success with spin-offs like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane. However, if it can learn from the success of KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix can build original animation franchises that rival the giants of the industry.
Crucially, the viewing figures back this up. The film avoided the usual trend of viewership decay in the metrics that matter most to Netflix (long-term engagement and momentum). Instead of dropping off after launch, weekly viewership grew dramatically week by week, behaving more like a genuine breakout hit, and not a typical streaming release, which tends to drop and then disappear.
Netflix has enjoyed recent success with other, more mature titles, like Happy Gilmore 2, but K-Pop Demon Hunters increases Netflix’s presence within the lucrative realm of family animation, where the audience has the potential to be much broader, with increased rewatchability.
How Netflix will build on the success of KPop Demon Hunters
Though still to officially green-light a sequel, TheWrap reported that Netflix was already considering several follow-up projects. The film’s directors have also expressed interest in exploring the backstories or origins of several characters.
The likely scenario is that Netflix will try to develop a fully-fledged franchise. But it should pay attention to why this film worked so well.
Co-director Maggie Kang has spoken about research trips to South Korea, to capture small but meaningful details, from the accurate pronunciation of terms to folklore motifs. Alongside the reasons listed earlier, KPop Demon Hunters succeeded partly because of its cultural authenticity, which takes time to hone.
Netflix will also likely try to recapture the musical success of the film. The soundtrack’s virality has massively benefited the film, allowing it to reach a whole new audience. Netflix will seek to replicate this, likely in different languages, cultures, and genres.
Ultimately, KPop Demon Hunters is more than just a hit for Netflix; it is a proof point. It demonstrates that the streamer can create original animated properties that drive long-tail growth, generate chart-topping songs, and build a global fandom, all in just a few weeks. Whether it can replicate this success, while respecting the craft and culture and keeping the growth feeling genuine, remains to be seen.
