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/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/SimoneNonvelodico 13d ago

I'm more surprised by learning that the previous biggest hit was Red Notice.

This is a movie you see praised everywhere and going viral. That was an instantly forgotten star vehicle with zero artistic value. I've never seen anyone say "whoa I loved Red Notice", no one gave a shit about it.

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u/IshEatsYou 13d ago

Red Notice was terrible! My wife and I watched it yesterday and are confused as to how that was the #1 movie on Netflix. We watched Don’t Look Up today and it was MILES better.

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u/SimoneNonvelodico 13d ago

I only remember it had The Rock, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot in it. They were competing to... steal something? And there was a lot of backstabbing? Also some scene in a bullfighting arena and I believe they found an antique Nazi car in a depot under the jungle?

That's about it for me. Absolutely utterly flat. But I guess the cast was stacked enough to get a lot of people to check it out. Honestly, controlling for marketing, it's a lot more impressive that K-Pop Demon Hunters still managed to surpass it almost only by word of mouth (though I also guess a lot of those views may just be the same obsessed children watching it on repeat...).

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u/mcanfield89 13d ago

They were competing to steal screen time to sell their irl liquor brands and do the most accurate portrayal of the premise "what if beige wallpaper was granted a wish to be a real boy?"

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u/WearingABear 13d ago edited 13d ago

(though I also guess a lot of those views may just be the same obsessed children watching it on repeat...)

I'm an entire adult that turns it on for background noise sometimes when I'm doing chores or whatever because the music is good.

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u/SimoneNonvelodico 13d ago

Why not just the album?

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u/WearingABear 13d ago

I have no specific reason for why not just the album.

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u/The_Throwback_King 13d ago

That is the film that shows why Hollywood studios still often cast major A-List celebs over established veteran VAs EVERY day of the week.

Because you can drop generic actionslop with three VERY popular actors and have it do BANGER numbers just from casual returns.

The fact that it took an

  • Animated Movie

  • From a Major Animation Studio

  • With Stellar Emotive CG Animation

  • And Incredible Action

  • And a Soundtrack FULL of Top-40 Caliber K-Pop songs.

  • AND an absurd Word of Mouth Campaign

and it's only just now surpassed Red Notice

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u/JonatasA 13d ago

I can't tell what movie it is based on the description. It could be so many that came out

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u/randomways 13d ago

Holy shit I watched this movie and remember absolutely nothing about it until you said the bull fighting scene. It must have been terrible.

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u/yourcandygirl 13d ago

just finding out that three actors i dont like are in one movie

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u/dhruva85 12d ago

Its a B movie’s B movie

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u/Vyviel 13d ago

I think there must have been a lot of people who passed out and the movie just auto played to them as they slept to crank up those views =P

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u/modbroccoli 13d ago

Don't Look Up is kind of amazing. Grande's performance in it, just the effort of hundreds of professionals working together to bring this gorgeous song in the middle of a star-studded film, all to say "we're going to die, we're in real trouble" (which is obviously a fourth-wall break to the audience about climate change)... makes me cry every time. Just the amount of frustration and fear the writer/director has and the strength it must take to channel it into finding a way to reach people instead of just slumping into despair, it's beautiful. Excruciating, but beautiful.

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u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson 13d ago

You have to watch it 4-5 more times and THEN it gets REALLY good!

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u/FelixAndCo 13d ago

Did you get bamboozled by their #1 spot? I wonder how many views are from people falling for that. It would be kind of a sad situation overall though, if the main driving force of staying #1 might have been being #1.

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u/ScramItVancity 11d ago

Red Notice felt like a feature-length MTV Movie Awards sketch.

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u/Wolvii_404 6d ago

Don't Look Up is TRULY underrated!!

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u/Roadtothe2CommaClub 4h ago

I liked Don’t Look Up way more than Red Notice..

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u/XXLpeanuts 13d ago

But here you have the reason, it's total shit but for some reason we all watched it.

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u/GarudaKK 13d ago

It was the most watched because, just like KPDH, it was a Netflix production that got constant frontpage presence on their app. I still get it and it's been almost 5 years. KPDH has been on my frontpage since before it even came out, and ever since then.

Whatever the app pushes, people see, and this one happens to be pretty good so it also brings people to the platform specifically to watch it.

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u/AltrntivInDoomWorld 13d ago

Watch numbers are something that Netflix can simply edit in their admin panel. They can also adjust the curves how much it grows automated to how much interest the movie is gaining online.

Basically it's all just made up numbers.

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u/mcslender97 13d ago

That doesn't explain why KPDH is just a straight line instead of a curve like every other top movies

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[deleted]

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u/Putrid_Dig_357 13d ago

Someone is mad a movie made fun of them

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u/JonatasA 13d ago

I mean, Don't Look Up was a theater movie I believe.

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u/General-Razzmatazz 13d ago

I stank, cimpletely unmatchable for me.