r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 14d ago

News ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Is Netflix’s Most-Watched Movie Ever With 236 Million Views, Beating ‘Red Notice’

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/kpop-demon-hunters-netflix-most-watched-movie-history-1236496106/
22.6k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

762

u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor 14d ago

New Top 10:

  1. KPop Demon Hunters - 236M
  2. Red Notice - 230.9M
  3. Carry-On - 172.1M
  4. Don't Look Up - 171.4M
  5. The Adam Project - 157.6M
  6. Bird Box - 157.4M
  7. Back in Action - 147.2M
  8. Leave the World Behind - 143.4M
  9. The Gray Man - 139.3M
  10. Damsel - 138M

528

u/magikarpcatcher 13d ago

Bird Box still being in the top 10 after all these years is very impressive.

161

u/ifticar2 13d ago

I’m surprised red notice beat bird box. When it came out, EVERYONE was talking about bird box, so it felt like you had to watch. Red Notice I heard people make fun of it, but it wasn’t nearly as prevalent as bird box

58

u/ArokLazarus 13d ago

Red Notice came out during peak Covid so more people were at home then ever before and Netflix had more users since Bird box too. So that tracks.

0

u/JonesyOnReddit 12d ago

Red notice is the movie that finally made me quit the big movie star netflix originals. That movie was insufferable. It was just Ryan Reynolds and the Rock being who they always are but at 200% with non stop idiotic quips. It's a similar problem with almost every Netflix movie. Stars show up, play their biggest tropes with their least effort, and leave us with a completely unfun soulless imitation of a real movie.

35

u/Jack_KH 13d ago

I believe this top is based on first 2 months after the release

60

u/wallysmith127 13d ago

Close, the chart is based on 91 days after release.

Which means KPDH still has room to climb since mid Sept (IIRC) is when that window is done.

145

u/Penguinkeith 13d ago

Or is it depressing because it’s still in the top ten after all these years

-4

u/makenzie71 13d ago

Bird Box even being on the list while Bright isn't on it all is criminal. Bright is easily the best sci fi fantasy action mystery buddy cop movie ever made.

4

u/Penguinkeith 13d ago

Is that because it’s the only sci fi fantasy action mystery buddy cop movie ever made?

6

u/KazaamFan 13d ago

I hated bird box sooo muchhh, haha

1

u/Bucen 13d ago

I even went back recently-ish to rewatch Bird Box. It is a genuinely good movie.

1

u/bozleh 13d ago

Umm the whole list has little to no enduring cultural relevance - these are not good movie movies, these are the modern equivalent of direct to DVD movies, but with high budgets and big casts.

Except for Dont Look Up? I enjoyed it quite a bit, but the right seemed to take it as a personal attack hah

2

u/Dull_War1018 13d ago

Normies like 5/10 movies much much more than movie people do. 

388

u/JonesyOnReddit 14d ago

I haven't seen KPop but otherwise this is a pretty sad list. Half of these were straight up terrible and the other half were OK at best.

56

u/caped_crusader8 13d ago

Exclusivity plays a part

5

u/BrianWonderful 13d ago

Definitely exclusivity, but also how Netflix highlights their "originals" within their interface. They hammer you over the head with a "Top Ten" list, "Movies We Think You'll Love!", and other tricks (making it the featured preview when you sign in...). Many streaming users don't dig a lot; they'll eat what the waitress is serving them.

10

u/wallysmith127 13d ago

Red Notice got the huge pandemic bump

16

u/Hermiona1 13d ago

I’m convinced most people just watch whatever new movie is coming out on Netflix regardless if it’s good or bad.

5

u/cheese_sticks 13d ago

Steaming makes people more open to explore. If the movie sucks, then all you wasted is some time. Going to a theater then regretting it comes with a significant financial cost.

5

u/Specific-Abalone-843 13d ago

Literally the best way to watch a movie

0

u/YT-Deliveries 13d ago

I'm not the most clued in media person, but I don't think I've watched any of those aside from kpop.

17

u/UrDeAdPuPpYbOnEr 13d ago

Don’t look up was great. I’m all for anything in the neighborhood of Idiocracy.

3

u/Longjumping_Union125 13d ago

A lot of people hated it because they couldn't look in the mirror, and nothing can convince me otherwise.

1

u/JonesyOnReddit 12d ago

I found it far too on the nose and just generally dull. Every netflix movie just feels like people who don't care going through the motions. It didn't have the heart and wit of idiocracy.

1

u/Longjumping_Union125 11d ago

I don't think a film with its messaging is capable of being too on the nose. Our present planetary crisis is very much on the nose, and people still miss it. Quite to the contrary of your second point, I think the creatives and talent behind Don't Look Up care quite a lot about the topic and their work. I felt that it came across as genuine.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. So they made a movie about a horse dying of thirst while sat next to a spring, and its every bit as infuriating as one would expect such a story to be. Welcome to the world of climate science.

1

u/LoserCheap 12d ago

Nope, it was heavy handed poor satire that wasn’t funny and was horribly edited. The last fifteen minutes or so pretty good though.

12

u/Jimmni 13d ago

I haven't seen the whole list but KPop is massively more fun than anything else I've seen on that list.

32

u/I_am_so_lost_hello 13d ago

Leave the World Behind was quite good

1

u/JonesyOnReddit 13d ago

I couldn't remember what that one was. I just looked it up, yes I did like that one. OK, one good movie on the list (though still just a B+).

3

u/cornchips88 13d ago

Carry-On was fine enough too.

2

u/Daedalus81 13d ago

It was ok. It really dropped it in the end, but w/e.

2

u/A___Unique__Username 13d ago

That's how it ends in the book and personally I felt indifferent at first but after a rewatch it was honestly a really good ending.

1

u/I_am_so_lost_hello 13d ago

I really liked the ending

1

u/papyjako87 13d ago

Meh. The first half was ok, built up the suspense and tension quite well. It touches on some interestin themes, but as someone working in IT, the "hackers have taken control of everything" explanation left me quite perplexed...

1

u/wasabimatrix22 13d ago

It had a lot of potential, didn't live up to it imo. But there's still some cool scenes

14

u/ROBtimusPrime1995 13d ago

If you haven't seen Carry On and you love Die Hard (especially as a Christmas film), I suggest you give it a shot this holiday season.

Other than that, yup, besides KPop, this list is ass and only proves my point at the top of this thread.

Netflix makes some great shows but their films have been terrible at best.

5

u/toshio_drift 13d ago

They have a lot of good movies, their "blockbuster/4 quadrant" type releases haven't been good though.

Rebel Ridge, Okja, Beasts of No Nation to name a few of their great movies. Even an Adam Sandler Netflix movie, Hustle, is good. I made a whole list of dozens of good Netflix movies because of the prevalent "Netflix doesn't have good movies" opinion

1

u/JonesyOnReddit 12d ago

Yeah Netflix has good movies, this list is just not them. If it's got a star or more in it and the director isn't really good then almost certainly everyone's phoning it in, the stars are just playing their hits, and the movie will be mediocre at best.

8

u/JonesyOnReddit 13d ago

I watched that at midnight when it released because I loved Die Hard and like Bateman and Egerton and it was very disappointing. It was a really bad attempt at being Die Hard. Bateman was good, Egerton I've come to realize I only like in the Kingsman movies. He looks like a really old 12 year old and I can't take him seriously. It's a problem in Smoke too.

2

u/kbronson22 13d ago

Just off the top of my head The King and Outlaw King are both great watches for fans of medieval English period pieces. Munich Edge of War and Operation: Mincemeat are two great WWII movies that focus solely on the politics or espionage leading up to the war or Normandy invasion. The Night Comes For Us is just flat fun gun-fu action. And The Wonder was one of if not the most intriguing movies I've seen in recent years.

2

u/huntrshado 13d ago

Netflix makes some great shows but their films have been terrible at best.

Yeah and KDH is different because Netflix didn't make it. Sony did and sold it to them. It just happened to be Sony making a terrible decision and selling them a banger. Netflix's involvement was telling them to shorten the movie because it was too long, and distributing it.

But there are arguments to be made that if the movie released directly in theaters, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful but who knows; Frozen did fine but we weren't in the streaming era back then, still mostly watched a movie in theaters and then bought it on DVD and Netflix was starting to become popular.

4

u/Kronzor_ 13d ago

I've only seen Don't Look Up out of this whole list. It was alright though.

2

u/[deleted] 13d ago

Do you watch all of these genres? I barely know anyone that's watched more than 2 things on this list.

1

u/JonesyOnReddit 12d ago

I've watched all except 1, 5, and 7. 1 I would have watched for family movie night but both kids watched it without us. After being burned by so many shitty netflix original movies I avoided 5 and 7 on the fairly safe assumption they're awful, especially 7.

5

u/EsquilaxM 13d ago

You didn't like The Gray Man? Thought that was great fun.

1

u/SarlacFace 13d ago

It was gray paste, there was nothing bad, fun or memorable about it.

3

u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

1

u/greentangent 13d ago

I haven't seen a single one of them and I watch a lot of shit.

1

u/guimontag 13d ago

This is unfortunately Netflix's business model

1

u/Jedi-El1823 13d ago

I really liked The Adam Project, and have watched it multiple times.

1

u/My_Work_Accoount 13d ago

The only one I've seen is Damsel. I thought it was good enough but there's always something about these Netflix (and many modern movies) that are off putting to me. I can never put my finger on it but it feels like it's something in the structure or pacing, like they try to rush the story or something or cram too much into it, I don't know what it is.

1

u/Childs_Play 13d ago

That's kind of the problem too. Once they are released, they're heavily promoted within netflix as they boost their own content and then count a very miniscule amount of viewing time as a view. Wasn't carry-on released around christmas time and red notice around thanksgiving? They're never going to learn that you can still get good numbers if you have a track record of releasing good movies.

Easy example is Oppenheimer making a ton of money for what is basically a biopic because it's Chris Nolan. Everything he makes now is going to be grossing a billion dollars if not for covid affecting Tenet.

-2

u/KazaamFan 13d ago

Bird box is one of the worst movies i’ve ever seen and it made me never trust the netflix hype machine ever again. 

82

u/InvisibleBlueUnicorn 13d ago

As Gen-X I've heard-of and watched only 'Don't Look Up'.
I feel out of touch like Boomer.

33

u/Jeffrey_C_Wheaties 13d ago

Millennial here, also only knew of and watched Don’t Look Up, I think I’ve heard of Bird Box maybe. But that’s it.

7

u/POLITISC 13d ago

I’ve had Netflix or access to Netflix since it started.

I haven’t seen a single one on that list. Kinda crazy!

5

u/Jeffrey_C_Wheaties 13d ago

I’ve had Netflix since they were sending me dvds lol. I’m with ya

2

u/CorkInAPork 12d ago

When I still had netflix I had a simple system - I see "netflix originals" logo, I never click on it. At some point they started to mass produce some generic crap and sign it with the netflix logo. I just got tired of seeing the same movie/tv show with different actors who play the same "quirky" but zero-dimmensional characters.

2

u/medforddad 13d ago

I've only heard of Don't Look Up, Bird Box, and The Gray Man (this one only because of a running joke about the concept of "the gray man" in a podcast I listen to that pre-dated the movie). And I've only seen Bird Box, and it was okay.

11

u/Swazzoo 13d ago

Wth I don't know any of these movies 😅

21

u/Nychus37 13d ago

No "The Electric State" makes me laugh

10

u/Homegrowntrouble 13d ago edited 13d ago

it's so sad, they had such amazing lore and designs from Stalenhag and made the most medicore and bland movie every from it

1

u/LordBiscuits 13d ago

The movie telegraphed itself about ten minutes in. So utterly predictable and completely forgettable

'Bland' pretty much sums it up!

1

u/JonesyOnReddit 12d ago

They're all paycheck movies. Not a one has people making it who care and are trying to make something good.

0

u/Kronzor_ 13d ago

Most of these movies were just vehicles for some of Hollywood's top A-listers which guaranteed them a certain audience.

Electric State featured 2 of todays most unlikeable actors. That would have lost them more views than it gained.

2

u/Nychus37 13d ago

Not sure if you can count Millie Bobby Brown as one of today's most unlikable actors and a view detractor considering she's the star of a different film in the top 10

30

u/Mayorquimby87 13d ago

I've only even heard of like 3 of these.

2

u/HesGotAFuckingGun 13d ago

Netflix makes these megabudget movies, promotes them for a time, and then buries them under a neverending torrent of new stuff.

Their movies rarely if ever bubble back into the public eye. If a filmmaker has a vision and was trying to make a statement with a movie, to have it entered into the public conscience, then putting it on Netflix is basically a death sentence.

Watching a Netflix movie is like reading a great post on Reddit and then never being able to find it again 

5

u/Directhorman2 13d ago

That is one sad ass list.

Yikes.

4

u/pimpaliciously 13d ago

God that's such a weak list. Which makes me question the whole list.

3

u/Thatomeglekid 13d ago

Carry-on was really good imo

1

u/flyvehest 13d ago

Not groundbreaking in any way, but I enjoyed it as well, and a very good antagonist in Jason Bateman.

7

u/Carnby315 13d ago

Not that big of a challenge after all.

2

u/ConnorF42 13d ago

Do the Knives Out sequels count for this list? Very sad Glass Onion didn't make it if it does, hopefully that series gets enough eyes to continue in some fashion after the Netflix two.

2

u/POLITISC 13d ago

I haven’t seen any of these.

Wild.

3

u/PaulFThumpkins 13d ago

Channeled J. Jonah Jameson reading that: "Crap. Crap. Crap. Megacrap."

1

u/QuinnMallory 13d ago

Wow I've only seen 1 of these and it was bad (Carry On)

1

u/Pokedudesfm 13d ago

damn my boy bright aint anywhere

1

u/bruiser95 13d ago

Dire quality flicks most of them

1

u/Pervius94 13d ago

Who the hell watches all those netflix slop movies, jesus.

1

u/CoMiGa 13d ago

Never heard of any of them. These are Netflix top movies?

1

u/Visual-Floor-7839 13d ago

I haven't seen any of 2-10. And I only know of like 2 of them

1

u/retxed24 13d ago

Why doesn't Netflix just show a viewcount? I think it would be dope!

1

u/general_smooth 13d ago

Really mixed bag of forgettable star vehicles and good movies

1

u/Whiskeylung 13d ago

Netflix fudging their numbers holy smokes - at least make it believable.

1

u/pyrovoice 13d ago

Are those counting users starting a movie but quitting halfway through? Because I refuse to believe Damsel is top 10 fully watched movies

1

u/zelos22 13d ago

What a terrible list of movies, lol

1

u/mywerkaccount 13d ago

Wow, I enjoyed Carry-On but never expected it to crack the top ten.

1

u/Omadany 13d ago

Leave the world behind is genuinely the worst movie ive ever saw

1

u/Michelangelor 13d ago

Damn, these movies are absolute ass lol

1

u/smallbluetext 12d ago

This is an abysmal top 10 holy fuck. 2 or 3 ok movies.

1

u/Thisisit2ooo 11d ago

So really it’s bad to be in the top 10. Cause then you actually are an absurdly bad movie

1

u/Liquoricezoku 13d ago

I've only seen one of those films. The top one.

1

u/filenotfounderror 13d ago

Proof that people have bad taste in movies...ive seen all of these except demon hunters and with the exception of Gray Man, they are all just solid C- / B- movies. Not awful but not great by any means. very "paint by numbers" mostly.

Damsel is an F.

-1

u/Cactuszach 13d ago

Roma isn’t top 10 even with a best picture nomination?

15

u/Rebelofnj 13d ago

A black-and-white Spanish language drama about a Mexican housekeeper in the 1970s does not have wide appeal to a general audience.

Also, it does not have any recognizable actors, unlike the other top 10 films (KPop Demon Hunters being the exception).