As ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Sings On Netflix, Ted Sarandos Talks Up Original Animated Features
- KPop Demon Hunters, an original animated film released on Netflix, has become a massive success with 80 million views and a chart-topping soundtrack.
KPop Demon Hunters , released June 20 and, at 80 million views, one of Netflix’s biggest animated films eve r with chart-topping music to boot, had co-CEO Ted Sarandos singing its praises today.
The film “is a phenomenal success out of the gate. One of the things that I’m excited, really proud of the team over, is [that it’s] original animation — not a sequel, not a live action remake. Original animation … is very tough and has been struggling for years.” Leo , The Sea Beast and now Kpop Demon Hunters are original animation and “we’re super thrilled about that,” he said on a call after the giant streamer’s second-quarter earnings , noting the latter’s winning mix of music and pop culture.
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“Getting it right matters. The storytelling matters. The innovation and animation itself matters. And the fact that people are in love with this film and in love with the music from this film, that will keep it going for a long time. So we’re really thrilled. And now the next beat is, where does it go from here?”
The fictional bands featured in the film are currently breaking K-pop records set by BTS and Blackpink with the highest-charting soundtrack of 2025 on the Billboard 200. This week, “Golden” hit #1 on the Billboard Global Charts, Netflix noted in a letter to shareholders. Other stats: the soundtrack is currently the #1 movie soundtrack on Spotify and the first K-pop album to ever be #1 on the U.S. Apple Music chart and on iTunes charts simultaneously. There are seven tracks from the album on the Billboard Hot 100.
The music will “drive fandom for these fictional K-pop bands that we have, but more importantly, for the song Golden and for the song Soda Pop. These are enormous hits and they all came from a film that’s available only on Netflix. So we’re really excited that we can pierce the culture with original animated features,” Sarandos said.
Meanwhile, Back in Action (165 million views), Tyler Perry’s STRAW (103 million) and The Life List (96 million) starring Sofia Carson took the top three spots on the streamer’s tally of its most-watched films in the first half of 2025. Seth Gordon’s Back In Action starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz was the streamer’s most-viewed title overall.
Non-English language fare with global success included Exterritorial (88 million views) from Germany at no 4, its fourth most popular non-English language film ever. Other toppers include Counterattack (71M) from Mexico (no. 8); iHostage (57M) from the Netherlands; Ad Vitam (70M) no. 9 and K.O. (44M) from France; Bullet Train Explosion (33M) from Japan; Jewel Thief – The Heist Begins (23M) from India; and Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful from Colombia (13M), according to the company’s bi-annual data bonanza of stats from series and films. It releases the numbers alongside second and fourth quarter earnings.
Starting this year, it no longer provides overall quarterly subscriber data.
Also among its top films. Havoc was no. 5 at 87 million views; The Secret Life of Pets 2 was no. 6 with 75 million views; The Electric State came in at no. 7 with 74 million view; and Despicable Me 2 rounded out the top 10 with 60 million views.
The streamer gave a shoutout to Vince Vaughn-starring Nonnas at 58 million views and tStudio Ghibli’s Spirited Away (6M) and Howl’s Moving Castle (6M).
The letter touted Adam Sandler’s upcoming Happy Gilmore 2 as well as Kathryn Bigelow’s political thriller A House of Dynamite and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein . Other high-profile films the streamer’s announced include Noah Baumbach’s coming-of-age comedy/drama Jay Kelly starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler, and animated film In Your Dreams , another original animated musical.
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