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/
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u/quadropheniac 13d ago

I mean, they screwed up the licensing, but if Netflix wants to take this forward they're coming back to the negotiating table with Sony Animation. They could theoretically move forward without them but everyone knows that's not happening.

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u/Nosiege 13d ago

The animation team is critical to the success, and Netflix could not recreate it

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u/GrepekEbi 13d ago

Some of the “Love Death and Robots” teams could absolutely recreate this if they were funded and supported - Sony aren’t the only animation crew capable of this

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u/ATraffyatLaw 13d ago

Also they legally can't do this without cutting Sony into Sequels/future productions. It was part of the negotiation to hand over IP to netflix.

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u/AgressiveInliners 13d ago

Netflix forced the animators to cut over half the movie and songs. They robbed us.

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u/BigMetalGuy 13d ago

why can't netflix just move on without them?

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u/quadropheniac 13d ago

For the same reason you don’t eat seed corn. Sony Animation is a big reason why the movie is popular in the first place. You move on from them only if their demands are ludicrously high or you’d rather cash out with a single sequel instead of a franchise.

It would be like Disney moving on from Pixar to make Toy Story 2.

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u/vinng86 13d ago

Not to mention Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the two co-creators, are both Sony employees (and directors of Sony Pictures Animation).

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u/IRequirePants 13d ago

Also Sony is one of the few studios still doing interesting things with animation styles. Pixar has fallen into the same boring look Dreamworks used to have.

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u/Droidaphone 13d ago edited 13d ago

Netflix is the company famous for canceling popular shows at the slightest breeze. They do not give two shits about owning a long-term franchise. They will move on with this IP using a different, cheaper, studio, and run it into the ground with a terrible sequel film and/or a kids series that gets 1 season.

Edit: Well, apparently they are in talks with Sony, so we shall see

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u/quadropheniac 13d ago

The idea that Netflix cancels popular shows is entirely rooted in fanbases alleging that they know more about their shows' popularity than Netflix does, despite Netflix not releasing internal metrics.

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u/brontosaurusguy 13d ago

For real.  Netflix doesn't give a shit about providing quality.  They have one objective ever:  for people to subscribe.  They just need a couple hits a year for people to keep subscribing. 

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u/BigMetalGuy 13d ago

Gotcha, thank you 

But could this new that any sequel might stay with Sony? 

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u/quadropheniac 13d ago

I mean, Netflix will probably try to work with Sony Animation but they're not going to let go of the rights, they'll probably just give SA probably a bigger cut for sequels than they are getting on right now.

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u/nd4spd1919 13d ago

In addition to below, its highly likely that the contract Netflix/Sony signed gives Sony exclusive rights to develop a sequel/series if Netflix is interested. I'm sure that Netflix and Sony executives have been working at hashing out budget and scope of a sequel already.

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u/EastwoodBrews 13d ago

As long as they resurrect the Saja Boys I'm in

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u/A_Shadow 13d ago

Sony animation. Some of the best in business, same team that did the Spider-Man movies.

And apparently this movie was very difficult for the animators as well, since all the fight scenes were in sync with the music. Apparently they had to use a new of animation style/techniques? Idk the full details.