Netflix has a mega-hit on its hands with KPop Demon Hunters, the animated film where a KPop group…hunts demons, per a centuries old, song-based tradition. The film has put out actual musical hits, topping Billboard charts for both its groups, HUNTR/X and Saja Boys, which is certainly a first for any Netflix movie.
Now? It’s set what I believe is a second one. Well, third, if we’re talking about the performance of an animated movie, but that one has come and gone. Rather, no, KPop Demon Hunters will not set the record for the longest stretch of time at #1 on Netflix’s top 10 list, at least in the US. That honor belongs to Carry-On, which was there for 21 days in a row or Don’t Look Up in second place with 18 days. But here, almost exactly a month after its June 20 release, KPop Demon Hunters has once again become the #1 movie on Netflix in the US.
While no, it hasn’t been planted there permanently, it has never left the top 3 and about six times now, a movie has come along to beat it, then fallen in the next 1-2 days and KPop Demon Hunters returns to #1 again. This just does not happen, and should be a record for the latest amount of time post-release a movie has hit #1, even if it’s not consistent. We are approaching a full month in just two more days.
Why? Well, the movie is great, but word of mouth here has been positively wild. The songs keep charting, and more and more people say “wait what songs are these?” then go check out the movie. Or people just watch the movie over and over like they would an album. It’s only 90 minutes long and a large chunk of that is singing these hit songs. The visuals certainly add to the experience as well, and these full cuts of all the songs are not available on YouTube. They’re also better in the context of the actual movie.
One thing KPop Demon Hunters has not done is enter Netflix’s most-watched movies of all time list, where it would need 137 million views to top We Can Be Heroes. It is hauling in dozens of views a week, but it’s not quite there yet.
We also do not know what Netflix’s plan for future KPop Demon Hunters content is. It’s…something, certainly, whether a sequel or a show or even a rumored live-action adaptation. But no one predicted this level of a hit, so nothing was fully planned and it would take a long while for more to be released. These killer songs don’t write themselves.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
