Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja discussed the studio’s breakout movie of the summer, “KPop Demon Hunters,” on Thursday at Bank of America’s Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in New York. Speaking with analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich about Sony’s distribution deal with Netflix, Ahuja said the deal with the streamer “made sense.”
Sony produced “KPop Demon Hunters” and sold the distribution rights to Netflix for a direct-to-streaming release. The animated fantasy musical ended up becoming the platform’s most streamed movie of all time, surpassing “Red Notice” with 236 million views. A sing-along version of the film then debuted in theaters on August 23, where it earned over $19 million at the box office in its opening weekend across 1,700 screens.
Given the film’s unprecedented success, many have speculated that Sony should have kept “KPop Demon Hunters” for exclusive theatrical distribution. Ahuja himself is still scratching his head at the idea, telling Ehrlich, “This is the question we ask ourselves and everybody’s asking us too. You know, I don’t know.”
Ahuja then provided some context on the film’s sale, explaining that Sony developed the film as part of the studio’s output deal with Netflix. “We were working on direct to platform as part of that deal,” he says, “Netflix paid the whole cost, plus a profit premium to us the time. It made sense, right? But now you look at the success and think maybe it could have been theatrical.”
He does, however, concede that the success of “KPop Demon Hunters” could be a product of Netflix’s involvement and the buzz it garnered through the streamer. “It started out on Netflix, and then word of mouth made it grow. In theatrical, that’s a lot harder to do,” he admits, adding, “It’s hard to sustain momentum theatrically. So I think it was in the right home. I would say our mission is to make great content and find the right home. And I think ‘K Pop Demon Hunters” right home was Netflix. But it’s an interesting question. ‘Could it have been theatrical?’ Well, it’s hard to say. You don’t really know. It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s obvious.”
Netflix also retains the music and merchandising rights to the film, though Ahuja was quick to acknowledge that Sony participates in the soundtrack through Sony Music Publishing. More significantly, though, Sony retains the right to make sequels to the film, which could perhaps result in alternative release strategies.
Ahuja, however, isn’t regretting Netflix’s win, stating, “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, right?”
“KPop Demon Hunters” is directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang, who wrote the screenplay with Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan. It is produced by Michelle Wong, who previously worked for Sony Pictures Animation on “Vivo,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Hotel Transylvania 2” and “Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania.”
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