Over the closing days of summer, traditionally dominated by powerhouse studios, Netflix is about to make a new stride with its maiden chart-topping hit at the box office, courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’.
This unique animated action musical is on the brink of surpassing ‘Red Notice’ as the most viewed film on the platform, boasting over 210 million streams already. Industry insiders anticipate that the movie will generate a revenue of $18-20 million in a two-day limited run across around 1,700 cinemas. It seems set to overtake the estimated $15.6 million revenue of Warner Bros./New Line’s ‘Weapons’ during its third weekend, thereby clinching the top spot.
The intriguing question now is how much additional revenue cinemas could have reaped if Sony had chosen not to sell ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ to Netflix, reportedly making a profit of $20 million. This quandary forms the latest ‘what if’ trial for the film industry.
Without a formidable marketing effort, the movie might have suffered a lackluster premiere weekend, similar to the fate faced by several original animated films in recent times. However, notwithstanding its availability on the streaming platform for the preceding two months, ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ seems poised to pull in nearly more than the inaugural weekends of ‘The Bad Guys 2’ ($22 million) and ‘Elio’ ($20.8 million) in just two days.
The forthcoming summer season, the first since 1997 unperturbed by a global health crisis, has no animated film projected to earn more than $100 million in North America. However, ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’, with its influence bolstered by its streaming release, could have been the one to breach this threshold.
As for the remaining records, this weekend was marked by previous releases crossing noteworthy marks. ‘Weapons’ accumulated over $100 million domestically after a three-week run, bagging a total of $116 million, thus becoming the sixth consecutive release to achieve this benchmark.
Disney’s ‘Freakier Friday’ is holding the third place with a collection of $9.2 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $70 million. In fourth place is Marvel’s ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’, having collected $5.8 million over the week, taking its domestic total past $250 million, and approaching $500 million internationally.
The fifth place is held by ‘The Bad Guys 2’ with a weekend revenue of $5 million, contributing to a domestic total of $66 million.
Further down the ranking, the sardonic comedy ‘Honey Don’t!’ made its debut across 1,317 theatres, pulling in $3 million in revenue. The storyline, revolving around a provincial detective probing killings connected to an enigmatic church, has received mixed receptions.
Moreover, an English-dubbed rendition of the Chinese animated motion picture ‘Ne Zha 2’ was also rolled out. This film is hailed as the top earner this year with a staggering more than $2 billion global collection.
The American version elicited some interest, making $1.5 million during the maiden weekend from 2,228 sites.
With the end-of-summer weekend traditionally being a playground of mainline studios, the specialty distributors led by Netflix have marked a shift in pattern.
Thanks to Sony Picture Animation’s ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’, Netflix is lined up for a historic winning streak, setting the stage for unprecedented strides in the burgeoning streaming landscape.
The post Netflix Hits Box Office Gold with Sony’s ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ appeared first on Real News Now.
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