A singalong version of the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” is on track to earn an estimated $18 million to $20 million in theaters this weekend. This performance is set to make it the number one movie at the domestic box office, a notable achievement considering it is only playing for two-thirds of the weekend, specifically on Saturday and Sunday.
This is not the first time a streaming title has topped the box office charts. In fact, Apple’s “F1,” which was distributed in U.S. theaters by Warner Bros., opened to an even more impressive $57 million earlier this summer. However, this marks the first time Netflix has had the biggest movie in theaters.
This victory comes with some asterisks. Most notably, Netflix does not announce its own box office returns. Therefore, these figures are not official numbers from the streamer but are preliminary weekend estimates from other industry sources.
This was admittedly a quiet weekend at the box office without any major new releases. Besides “KPop Demon Hunters,” the top-grossing movie was “Weapons,” which made an estimated $15.4 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $115 million.
Still, this feels like a milestone for Netflix, a company that has historically avoided traditional theatrical releases. This stance may have even driven away some of its most successful filmmakers. The closest the company had previously come was a one-week release of Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” sequel “Glass Onion,” which earned an estimated $15 million in theaters. Then there is Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” adaptation, which will likely do even bigger box office numbers when it launches exclusively on Imax screens next fall.
This is also an impressive victory for a movie that has been available on streaming since late June. The film has already climbed to the number two spot on Netflix’s chart of all-time most-watched movies, with more than 210 million views. It is positioned between “Red Notice” and “Carry-On.”
Produced by Sony Pictures Animation and featuring a largely Korean and Korean American voice cast, “KPop Demon Hunters” tells the story of a K-Pop girl group that also hunts demons, including a rival boy band. “Golden,” a song from the film’s soundtrack, topped the Billboard charts and has been streamed more than 400 million times on Spotify.
In keeping with a longstanding refusal to screen movies without an exclusive theatrical window, AMC Theatres declined to show this singalong version of “KPop Demon Hunters.” It was the only major chain to do so.