And that’s “How It’s Done.”
Netflix capitalized on its chart-topping “KPop Demon Hunters” over the weekend with a two-day theatrical release of its new sing-along version.
Box office analysts spent much of Sunday trying to determine exactly how well the animated feature performed, relying on anonymous executives from rival studios and scraped data from ticket sales sites. Estimates range from $16 million to $20 million for the sing-along’s domestic run.
That’s smaller than recent domestic theatrical re-releases like “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” and the 15th anniversary screenings of “Coraline” — which generated $25 million and $33 million, respectively — but higher than most re-released films including “Interstellar,” which snared $15 million in late 2024 and “Pride & Prejudice,” which tallied $6 million earlier this year.
The streaming company has never reported box office grosses publicly and declined to do so for this film. It also declined to comment on the release when reached by CNBC.
But the buzz has Wall Street wondering whether Netflix may change its tune and push further into theaters.
Netflix has long used theatrical releases as a marketing tool to promote its streaming service. The company’s strategy has always been to host content on its platform for subscribers, rather than broader audiences on the big screen, and it rarely delays releasing works in the home market in favor of a theatrical run, except when it’s looking at awards contention or special occasions.
“KPop Demon Hunters” is the most recent exception. But experts say it’s unlikely to rewrite Netflix’s rules.
“It absolutely does not change anything,” said industry analyst David Poland. “It’s all about events for Netflix.”
There’s a lot of talk in the cinema business about “eventizing” film — basically making the theatrical release a spectacle or a can’t-miss event. Netflix has been able to do this successfully because it’s not a traditional studio. It doesn’t stick to typical release windows, opting to make one-off deals with theater chain operators for each of its films.
That allows Netflix to avoid costly marketing campaigns, which are typically estimated to be about half of whatever is spent on the production budget.
However, this strategy does often put Netflix at odds with theatrical partners. For example, “KPop Demon Hunters” was released in around 1,700 theaters, which is a little more than a third of all domestic theaters. It did not appear in a single AMC theater, the largest cinema chain both domestically and globally.
AMC declined CNBC’s request for comment on the release.
The exhibitor will be working with Netflix, however, for Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia” film, which is getting an exclusive two-week global debut in IMAX starting Thanksgiving Day 2026.
Poland noted that Netflix does offer favorable terms with theaters when it comes to splitting ticket receipts, which can help entice exhibitors to work with the company despite the smaller release windows.
“They don’t care about the money, and in this case, my guess is they paid much higher than the 50% that’s normal to the exhibitors that read it, because it doesn’t matter,” Poland said. “It’s not enough money to matter to them. But as a promotional event, it’s very successful.”
Already, “KPop Demon Hunters,” which launched on Netflix in late June, has become the second-most watched English language film on Netflix, just behind 2021’s “Red Notice.” The film has been viewed more than 210.5 million times, according to Netflix, about 20 million short of the record.
The sing-along and pop culture buzz from the theatrical release could help boost that number even higher.
“There was obviously a huge demand for the movie and offered up yet another example of how important the theatrical moviegoing side of the business is to generate huge publicity, create a cultural event and, in turn, a social media phenomenon,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
