The success of KPop Demon Hunters never happened before. This is from small animated film which shows the streamer’s Netflix most popular movie everwith sequels and spinoffs in the works and almost certainly an Oscar on the way. In addition, even hit the theatersmaking tens of millions of dollars in just a few short days. All that makes Hollywood wonder, Sony, who licensed the film to Netflix, made a mistake by not releasing it?

In a new interview with the Hollywood ReporterSony Pictures Animation presidents Kristine Belson and Damien de Froberville said they looked at the numbers and concluded, “One million percent,” that KPop Demon Hunters is the only big hit because it’s on Netflix.

“One million percent, it has to be on Netflix,” Belson said when asked if Sony was playing the movie’s theatrical prospects against streaming. “It’s the perfect storm of that movie coming together with the power of that platform.”

Belson explained that if you have a movie on Netflix, the company will check with you how it works. The first check-in after three days, then 10 days, then 28 days. “The three-day call was like, ‘Yeah, it’s OK,'” de Froberville said. “The 10-day call: ‘Yeah, it’s OK. It’s starting to look interesting, especially on rewatch.'”

“And usually you don’t hear from them again between 10-days and 28-days,” Belson continued. “But then we got a call from (Head of Feature Animation and Family Films at Netflix) Hannah Minghella on the 14th or something. ‘Something’s happening here.’ So, it takes time, which you don’t get in theater.”

This is the kind of success that everyone involved wants to continue. And yet reports that a sequel is coming out in 2029, Belson reportedly “put his pointer finger up his nose” when asked about the somewhat ambitious release date, considering how slow the animation is taking place. So, don’t hold your breath.

This is an interesting interview talking about the new movie GOATS as well Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Read it here.

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