25 Aug With ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ No. 1 at the Box Office, Will Netflix Start Taking Theaters Seriously Now? [IndieWire]
BY BRIAN WELK
August 25, 2025 | Netflix may have had its first No. 1 weekend at the box office ever with “KPop Demon Hunters Sing-Along,” but you wouldn’t know that from asking Netflix.
Officially, the top movie in America is “Weapons” for the third straight week. It made an estimated $15.4 million, and we know that because Warner Bros. told us. Why wouldn’t you when you’re No. 1? Netflix, however — as is its right — hasn’t reported numbers, even though it probably would’ve beaten that.
Industry sources told IndieWire that the film opened on 1,750 screens for just two days on Saturday and Sunday, not Friday, and over 1,150 of those screenings were sellout showings of ravenous tweens wanting to sing along with the animated K-pop musical in person. We’re hearing estimates of between $18 million and $18.8 million, which is where “Demon Hunters” finally settled, including at least $10.5 million on Saturday and $7.5 million on Sunday, though other reports had it at $19.2 million. It did that without opening at any AMC Theatres locations, America’s largest theater chain.
It doesn’t really matter. Netflix isn’t sweating those extra hundreds of thousands, and it won’t report where it finally lands, even though it did when Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” made $15 million from roughly 700 screens and one week in theaters.
That’s a little frustrating if you’re a rival studio distributor who wants to size up the competition, but the question you’re most likely asking is, does this mean Netflix will start putting more of its stuff in theaters? The short answer is no, and the longer answer is maybe with a but.
Netflix’s position, as its executives have said frequently, is that it wants you to watch its movies on its platform, full stop. It generates revenue from its subscribers and ad dollars, and keeping you engaged, and chasing an unpredictable box office is not the business it wants to be in. It looked at claims that money was probably left on the table with “Glass Onion” if it had only opened wider and said, thanks, we’re good.