With such a crowded media landscape, it can be near-impossible for a movie to make its mark and break through the noise. Especially if it doesn’t have an existing franchise to fall back on. Interestingly enough, nearly all of Netflix’s top ten most-watched movies are original stories. There’s a few adaptations of novels on the list, like Bird Box and Leave the World Behind, yet the majority of the list is refreshingly franchise-free. Currently, the action films Red Notice and Carry-On hold the top two spots on the English most-watched charts, with Adam McKay’s satirical sci-fi tragicomedy Don’t Look Up taking third place. However, their days on the coveted list may be numbered as the streamer’s breakout hit of the summer steadily climbs the charts and racks up more views.
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Since its June 20th premiere date, the animated action adventure film KPop Demon Hunters has not only posted 158.8 million views on the platform, but it’s now Netflix’s most watched English animated movie and fourth most-watched movie overall to date. And given that the streamer uses a title’s first 91 days of viewing to quantify slots on its “all-time” lists, KPop Demon Hunters still has seven weeks worth of streaming time to ascend even higher. With Carry-On and Don’t Look Up‘s viewership for the period coming in at 172.1 million and 171.4 million views respectively, there’s a very good chance that KPop Demon Hunters could surpass the two live-action titles.
KPop Demon Hunters tells the story of Rumi, Mira and Zoey, who not only sell out stadiums as the K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, but protect their legions of fans with their secret identities as demon hunters. They use their music and starpower to shield audiences from their world’s demons that constantly seek to steal human souls that would allow the evil king of the Demon Realm, Gwi-Ma, to enter theirs. Yet the trio of pop stars meet their toughest enemies yet when a group of demons pose as the irresistible boy band the Saja Boys, and threaten their fans like never before.
KPop Demon Hunters is as much of a critical success as it is a commercial one for Netflix. The film has a “certified fresh” Tomatometer score of 97% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience score coming in slightly lower at a still superb 92%. The film’s incredible performance is made even more impressive when taking its relatively unknown voice cast. There are no big names behind Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, whereas every other movie on Netflix’s top ten boasts A-list talent in leading roles. Red Notice starred Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds, Carry-On featured Golden-Globe winner Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman, while Don’t Look Up‘s featured several Oscar winners.
Furthermore, KPop Demon Hunters is the directorial debut of storyboard artist Maggie Kang. Not only is the film a delightful, girl-powered romp full of fight scenes and catchy pop songs, it flies in the face that a film needs a major star or director to be a hit. Even though Happy Gilmore 2 managed to beat out KPop Demon Hunters for the number one movie for the week of July 28 – August 3rd, here’s hoping that Netflix continues to embrace more original, imaginative storytelling from fresh voices.
KPop Demon Hunters is currently streaming on Netflix.
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©Eiichiro Oda/SHUEISHA ©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
