You can make a compelling argument that the biggest movie of 2025 wasn’t a box office smash like Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, or Lilo & Stitch. Instead, that title was claimed by a Netflix original: Kpop Demon Hunters. Released last June, the animated film became a global phenomenon, accumulating hundreds of millions of views and even winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Long after the initial wave of hype (plus a successful showing in theaters for a special sing-along version), Kpop Demon Hunters continued to score high viewership totals on streaming. But all good things eventually come to an end — even for record-breaking movies.
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For the week of May 4th-10th, Kpop Demon Hunters did not place on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies list in the United States. This marked the first time in 46 weeks the film was not on that chart. However, it still earned a spot on the global Top 10 list, coming in fifth place. While interest in Kpop Demon Hunters seems to have cooled off domestically, it’s still going fairly strong worldwide.
Kpop Demon Hunter‘s Dominant Run Ends Nearly One Year Later
As surprising as it was to see Kpop Demon Hunters have this prolonged stretch of dominance on Netflix’s chart, it’s just as shocking to see it fall completely out of the streamer’s top 10 now. Just last week, Kpop Demon Hunters was the No. 5 film in the United States, so it took a sharp drop over the past seven days. It’s possible competition from other animated titles played a role in this. Netflix’s new family film Swapped is performing very well (becoming the new top movie this past week). Also in the top 10 from May 4th-10th was Home, the DreamWorks Animated film that was re-added to Netflix’s library earlier this month. Home has cumulatively spent 14 weeks in Netflix’s top 10, so it’s proven to be a popular pick over the years.
It will be interesting to see if Kpop Demon Hunters can hold on to its spot on the global list. The film is on the cusp of maintaining a top 10 ranking for an entire calendar year, which is something that has never been done before. Last week, Kpop Demon Hunters racked up 3.6 million views and was watched for a total of 6 million hours. It maintained a decent lead over the likes of Jennifer’s Body (3 million views), but the gap between Kpop Demon Hunters and the bottom half of the top 10 was not as sizable as it has been in weeks past. As we saw with the U.S. chart, a film’s views can take a sizable hit in just one week, so time will tell if Kpop Demon Hunters will make another bit of history.
Even if Kpop Demon Hunters loses its place on the global top 10, it won’t take anything away from the film’s incredible accomplishments. If anything, that development would be the perfect point to reflect on the movie’s wild journey. Originally planned as a theatrical release for Sony, Netflix acquired Kpop Demon Hunters and it arrived last summer without much fanfare initially. Through word of mouth, the film’s following grew larger and larger until it became one of Netflix’s biggest successes of all time. In retrospect, Sony looks silly for selling Kpop Demon Hunters off, but there’s no way of knowing if it would have been as big if it had received a traditional theatrical release. Being readily available to watch at home over and over again definitely played a key role in the movie’s record-breaking run.
Unsurprisingly, Kpop Demon Hunters is only the beginning of a new franchise for Netflix. As fans await the announced sequel, there have been other attempts to capitalize on the demand for more content, such as a series of McDonald’s shorts and books (which are coming out this fall). Nobody could have expected Kpop Demon Hunters to become as big as it did, and now Netflix is in a position where it needs to find ways to fill the gap. It’s going to be a long wait for Kpop Demon Hunters 2, but when the sequel does arrive, it should be Netflix’s most in-demand release.
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