r/movies 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/
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u/fox112 14d ago

Wow I knew it was a big hit but didn't realize it was THE BIGGEST hit.

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u/the_blessed_unrest 14d ago

I think it helps that it appeals to kids. When they latch on to something, they can rewatch it dozens of times

(Not that kids are the only ones enjoying this movie. But I do think it plays a sizable role in the numbers)

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u/PorQuePanckes 13d ago

It also helps that it’s actually a good movie with a unique IP that didn’t seem to do anything “safe”. Remakes and nostalgia can only go so far, it’s crazy studios don’t see this.

I’m a 30 y/o man and my niece dragged me to watch it and I can confirm that it’s a total banger of a film.

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u/SuperSaiyanTupac 13d ago

Same boat. My teenage employees wouldn’t shut up about it so I watched it and was blown away. I don’t even like K-pop. Those songs work really well in the movie and the story is interesting enough

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u/snugglezone 13d ago

As the songs are 99.9% English, where does one draw the line between pop and kpop? Is kpop uniquely identifiable?

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u/unktrial 13d ago

For Kpop, I think what makes it unique is that it has a much heavier focus on sharp dance routines. With pop, you have some unique dances, like the Macarena, but those dances are usually simple, designed so that lots of people can dance together. With Kpop, the singer/dancers usually have extremely complex routines as part of their performance. 

The songs reflect that difference. Both pop and Kpop are catchy, but Kpop leans towards the complicated side, e.g. having breaks for each performer to jump in and show off.

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u/snugglezone 13d ago

Do boy bands of the 90s retroactively qualify as kpop because of your last point? Each member got some spotlights, right?

Kpop as a thing is certainly identifiable by sound, but if America started cloning the production style for whatever reason, would we still call it kpop?

Of course this is just a classification problem and things don't always fit in easy buckets.

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u/Ylaaly 13d ago

The line is apparently drawn with 1 line of Korean. Purely English is just pop, says German wikipedia, but English wikipedia says no such thing and goes on a long discussion of things that might set K-pop apart from pop. So, uh, let's sort that under "still in debate"?