Sony Pictures CEO Ravi Ahuja was just asked about the company’s decision to let “KPop Demon Hunters,” one of the year’s biggest, buzziest movies, head directly to Netflix, where it has since become the most watched title ever – television or movie – in the company’s history.
“Obviously, in hindsight, it’s such a big hit,” Ahuja said at Thursday’s Bank of America conference. He went on to explain how “KPop Demon Hunters” was part of “that huge output deal” with Netflix in 2021.
“It’s K-Pop-themed, very specific film,” Ahuja said. “Netflix paid the whole cost, plus a profit premium. At the time, it made sense. But now you look at the success and think maybe it could have been theatrical.” He also noted that Netflix “took it to theaters.” “It started out on Netflix and then word of mouth made it grow in theatrical – that’s a lot harder to do. It can be done,” Ahuja said. He then pointed to the success of Sony’s romantic comedy “Anyone But You,” starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, which had a soft start but made $220 million worldwide, largely propelled by word-of-mouth.
“I think it was in the right home. Our mission is to make great content and find the right home. And I think ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ right home was Netflix,” Ahuja added. “Could it have been theatrical? It’s hard to say. It’s possible but I don’t think it’s so obvious.”
The exec then said that Sony doesn’t have “participation.” “We made it entirely for them. We participate in the music through Sony Music Publishing,” Ahuja said. He did add that, “We do all the sequels.” Since, as he alluded to, Netflix owns the property completely, the two companies had been hammering out a deal since the movie exploded for two subsequent films to be directed by original filmmakers Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans.
“The goal of the deal was to make hits. One great thing about being an independent is we’re happy when our clients do well. So they did well,” Ahuja said. “There’s an ongoing conversation about terms, and not even so much in film or on the TV side, is whether the right terms are being used, whether streamers can actually pay less but get back more rights. And I’ve told all the streamers, we’re very open to that, so we’re having more of those conversations. If you think about ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ in that light, I think we would always rather bet on ourselves.”
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