Netflix’s “K-pop Demon Hunters” to Expand Franchise into Three-Part Trilogy, Live-Action Film, and Musical

Netflix’s “K-pop Demon Hunters” has achieved the highest performance in the platform’s history, prompting the company to pursue a large-scale franchise expansion. According to an official Netflix announcement on the 30th of last month, the film ranked first among all of the platform’s original animated movies in terms of viewership. From its release on June 20th to July 29th, it accumulated 228 million hours of viewing time, which equates to 132.4 million individual views. This outcome directly contradicts the typical trend where streaming content sees declining view counts over time. In the fifth week after release (July 14th–20th), it set a new record for itself with 25.8 million views, and it further broke that record in the sixth week (July 21st–27th) with 26.3 million views. It was the first Netflix original animated movie to achieve the highest viewership in its fifth week. According to American entertainment media outlets The Wrap and Forbes, Netflix is currently working to complete “K-pop Demon Hunters” as a three-part animated trilogy, alongside live-action film remakes, a musical version, as well as TV series and spin-offs. Although Netflix has not yet issued an official statement, given the current success and global attention, the production of sequels is considered almost inevitable. Forbes analyzed that “Netflix internally expects this work to become a symbolic presence similar to Disney’s ‘Frozen,’ which likely led to the rapid decision to expand the franchise.” However, it was noted that since Netflix measures success based on total viewing time rather than box office earnings, it is difficult to make a direct comparison with the “Frozen” series, which generated $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in revenue at the theater. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said during the second-quarter earnings report, “It has been an enormous success from the start, and audiences are obsessed with both the film and its music, which will lead to long-term popularity. We are thinking about where this work should go next.” Directed by Korean-American director Maggie Kang in collaboration with Chris Appelhans, the film was produced by Sony Pictures. It meticulously depicted Seoul’s urban landscapes, Korean cuisine, and everyday cultural elements. The original soundtrack tracks such as “Golden,” “Your Idol,” and “Soda Pop” dominated global music charts, demonstrating the multi-platform impact of both visuals and music. This success signifies Netflix’s emergence as a serious competitor in the family animation market, which has been dominated by Disney for nearly a century. Former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings declared in 2021 that he would defeat Disney in family animation, but no tangible results had been achieved prior to this. Brandon Katz, director at entertainment data analysis firm Greenlight Analytics, emphasized that “it is certain this work will be recorded as Netflix’s highest-grossing original animated movie to date.”