James Oconner 
Anil Krishna 
Jonathan Millar 
‘KPop Demon Hunters 2’ Is Getting a Much Bigger Theatrical Release
© Netflix
KPop Demon Hunters is getting a bigger trip to the movie theater the second time around. Netflix has confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will receive a “broad theatrical release,” which is a pretty notable change for a franchise that became a massive hit after debuting directly on the streaming platform.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed the plan while speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, as reported by TheWrap. The original movie arrived on Netflix in June 2025 and initially had no traditional theatrical run. That changed later when Netflix released a special Sing-Along version in theaters. It turned out that people didn’t just want to watch the movie at home—they were also very happy to sing along with it in a packed theater.
The original KPop Demon Hunters became an enormous Netflix hit, reaching 325.1 million views during its first 91 days and eventually becoming the most-watched movie in Netflix history. It also went on to win two Oscars, including Best Animated Feature. So the sequel already has a pretty ridiculous amount of momentum behind it.
The First Movie’s Theatrical Run Changed Netflix’s Thinking
The Sing-Along release was probably the biggest clue that KPop Demon Hunters could work as a theatrical movie. It earned $24.3 million in North America across just five non-consecutive days, which is impressive considering the film had already been available to Netflix subscribers at home.
That run showed something Netflix may not have fully expected when the first movie launched. KPop Demon Hunters wasn’t only a streaming hit. The music, characters and big animated set pieces also gave audiences a reason to experience it together. A movie built around K-pop and singing was always going to have some appeal as a group experience, and the box office numbers made that pretty hard to ignore.
The sequel also has one other advantage: the original creative team is coming back. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans are returning as directors and co-writers, so Netflix isn’t handing the franchise to an entirely different team just because the first movie became such a huge success.
Could KPop Demon Hunters 2 Change Netflix’s Approach to Theaters?
The bigger theatrical release comes at an interesting time for Netflix. The company has been experimenting with longer theatrical windows for some of its movies, including Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew and The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. But Sarandos has also made it clear that Netflix isn’t suddenly abandoning its streaming-first approach and sending every major movie to theaters. Instead, the company seems to be treating each film differently. Some movies may benefit from a theatrical run, while others make more sense as streaming releases.
KPop Demon Hunters 2 is an obvious case where theaters could make a lot of sense. It’s aimed at families, it’s packed with music, and the first movie has already shown that fans are willing to turn watching it into a shared event. There’s something different about hearing an audience sing along to a movie compared with watching the same thing alone at home.
That makes the sequel an interesting experiment for Netflix. If KPop Demon Hunters 2 becomes a major theatrical success, it could show that some of the platform’s biggest streaming franchises don’t have to stay confined to the living room. For now, though, Netflix seems to be taking this one movie at a time—and this particular movie may be exactly the kind that benefits from a much bigger screen.
About the Author
