Netflix may have had its first No. 1 weekend at the box office ever with “KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along,” but you wouldn’t know that from asking Netflix.
Officially, the top movie in America is “Weapons” for the third straight week. It made an estimated $15.4 million, and we know that because Warner Bros. told us. Why wouldn’t you when you’re No. 1? Netflix, however — as is its right — hasn’t reported numbers even though it probably would’ve beaten that.
Industry sources told IndieWire that the film opened on 1,750 screens for just two days on Saturday and Sunday, not Friday, and over 1,150 of those screenings were sellout showings of ravenous tweens wanting to sing along with the animated K-pop musical in person. We’re hearing estimates of between $18 million and $18.8 million, which is where “Demon Hunters” finally settled, including at least $10.5 million on Saturday and $7.5 million on Sunday, though other reports had it at $19.2 million. It did that without opening at any AMC Theatres locations, America’s largest theater chain.
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It doesn’t really matter. Netflix isn’t sweating those extra hundreds of thousands, and it won’t report where it finally lands, even though it did when Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” made $15 million from roughly 700 screens and one week in theaters.
That’s a little frustrating if you’re a rival studio distributor who wants to size up the competition, but the question you’re most likely asking is, does this mean Netflix will start putting more of its stuff in theaters? The short answer is no, and the longer answer is maybe with a but.
Netflix’s position, as its executives have said frequently, is that it wants you to watch its movies on its platform, full stop. It generates revenue from its subscribers and ad dollars, and keeping you engaged, and chasing an unpredictable box office is not the business it wants to be in. It looked at claims that money was probably left on the table with “Glass Onion” if it had only opened wider and said, thanks, we’re good.
But Netflix will also tell you, actually, we do put movies in theaters! We own two historic movie palaces in New York and Hollywood to host premieres. A movie like “Red Notice” opened on a similar number of screens as “KPop Demon Hunters” did. And all of our awards titles get small but notable qualifying runs for Oscars. We just don’t report any box office data, but look at us being transparent.
The other big difference between “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Glass Onion” is that “Demon Hunters” has already been on Netflix for two months. Everyone who saw it in theaters was a super fan who had streamed it a bunch of times (God help you if you thought watching the “Sing-Along” version was the best way to check it out for the first time). This worked for Netflix because it knew it had that built-in fanbase and could successfully stage some event screenings for those core fans, and it didn’t need extensive marketing to make it a hit. They’re likely the same folks who will show up to the Netflix House theme park locations, now opening November 12 in Philadelphia and December 11 in Dallas.
That’s why if we were betting men, we’d wager there could be more theatrical examples like “KPop Demon Hunters” in the future. Netflix, of late, has been about making events with its releases. It’s not interested in bidding on NFL rights, but if it can host two tentpole Christmas Day games and have mega viewing numbers, it’ll get behind that. If it can double viewing by splitting up seasons of “Squid Game,” “Wednesday,” and “Stranger Things,” it’ll break its rule about dropping every episode at once. If it can get John Mulaney to fight some teenage boys live on its platform, it’ll take that over your standard late-night talk show.
Not everything for Netflix is going to be a K-pop musical that demands a sing-along, but if something really catches on again, could Netflix get creative about giving it its day in theaters? We’re spitballing here, but what if there was an R-rated cut of “Happy Gilmore 2” you could only see in theaters? What if Rian Johnson came up with alternate endings for “Wake Up Dead Man” you could see after having watched it on streaming first? Would fans pay to binge a season of “Stranger Things” in theaters ahead of the release of the final season?
Netflix’s hand may be forced about theatrical before long. Its biggest tentpole movie on the horizon is Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia,” debuting on Netflix Christmas 2026. But before then, it will have an exclusive run on IMAX screens. Doing it that way gives Netflix the opportunity to eventize the film on a premium format for those who want it, all without cannibalizing the audience that would watch it at home.
That’s the tax, though, Netflix must pay to collaborate with a top-shelf director like Gerwig. Netflix has already lost out on a handful of projects because filmmakers still want their movies in theaters, and as Netflix squeezes bigger and bigger numbers out of these events, the pressure is only mounting for them to do more.
