‘KPop Demon Hunters 2’ wins huge Netflix theatrical release

Netflix plans a “very broad theatrical release” for “KPop Demon Hunters 2,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Wednesday night, Sept. 30, at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference. The sequel to the animated family hit is expected in 2029, Deadline reported.

What the original film proved

The first “KPop Demon Hunters,” an animated Sony title that went straight to Netflix, drew 325.1 million views in its first 90 days and has logged 63 straight weeks in the streamer’s Global Top 10, according to Deadline. It also showed box-office pull: a singalong version opened at No. 1 two months after the film’s streaming debut, earning an estimated $19 million in two days. AMC, which has clashed with Netflix over theatrical windows, did not play it, Deadline noted.

Sarandos put “KPop Demon Hunters 2” in what he called the “four-quad family rewatch movie” category, alongside Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” and the animated “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory.” Netflix plans wide releases for both.

KPop Demon Hunters 2 and Netflix’s theatrical tiers

Sarandos described two ends of a spectrum. Art house films such as “La Bola Negra” and last year’s “Train Dreams” can sit in theaters for months and still help, not hurt, their performance on Netflix, he said. Family films that viewers rewatch, like “KPop Demon Hunters 2,” get big, wide, global releases. “But I think in the other ones where it’s kind of in the middle, that’s where it gets tougher,” he said.

“When the KPop Demon Hunters sequel comes, you can expect a very broad theatrical release,” Sarandos said, according to Deadline.

Netflix’s upcoming theater-first slate includes “La Bola Negra” (Oct. 16), Peter Berg’s “Mosquito Bowl” (Oct. 30), David Fincher’s “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” (Nov. 25), Danny Boyle’s “Ink” (Dec. 11), “Narnia” (Feb. 12, 2027) and “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory” (Nov. 5, 2027). Deadline reported theatrical windows of 50 days for “Narnia,” 47 for “Charlie” and 46 for “La Bola Negra.”

How Netflix will judge success

For the first time, Netflix will report box-office grosses for these releases. Sarandos said theatrical revenue carries “relatively low expectations” for a film’s overall finances, and a theater run is worth the risk to streaming performance only when it offers “the potential for a very big upside in the theater.”

He also said the most-watched films on Netflix are its originals, except for kids and family titles, which benefit from rewatching. A theatrical run, he argued, draws a film’s most passionate fans first, leaving fewer of them to watch when it reaches the platform.

What’s next

Netflix has not announced a release date, theater count or theatrical window for “KPop Demon Hunters 2.” For background, read how Netflix greenlit the KPop Demon Hunters sequel and how the original won best animated feature at the 2026 Oscars, or browse the latest movie news.

Reporting from Deadline contributed to this story.