{"id":121266,"date":"2025-09-05T07:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T07:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/121266\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T07:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T07:01:12","slug":"sony-pictures-ceo-stands-by-kpop-demon-hunters-sale-to-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/121266\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony Pictures CEO Stands By ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Sale to Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja<\/a> discussed the studio\u2019s breakout movie of the summer, \u201cKPop Demon Hunters<\/a>,\u201d on Thursday at Bank of America\u2019s Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in New York. Speaking with analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich about Sony\u2019s distribution deal with Netflix<\/a>, Ahuja said the deal with the streamer \u201cmade sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSony produced \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d and sold the distribution rights to Netflix for a direct-to-streaming release. The animated fantasy musical ended up becoming the platform\u2019s most streamed movie of all time, surpassing \u201cRed Notice\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

\n\tGiven the film\u2019s unprecedented success, many have speculated that Sony should have kept \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d for exclusive theatrical distribution. Ahuja himself is still scratching his head at the idea, telling Ehrlich, \u201cThis is the question we ask ourselves and everybody\u2019s asking us too. You know, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAhuja then provided some context on the film\u2019s sale, explaining that Sony developed the film as part of the studio\u2019s output deal with Netflix. \u201cWe were working on direct to platform as part of that deal,\u201d he says, \u201cNetflix 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe does, however, concede that the success of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d could be a product of Netflix\u2019s involvement and the buzz it garnered through the streamer. \u201cIt started out on Netflix, and then word of mouth made it grow. In theatrical, that\u2019s a lot harder to do,\u201d he admits, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s 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 \u2018K Pop Demon Hunters\u201d right home was Netflix. But it\u2019s an interesting question. \u2018Could it have been theatrical?\u2019 Well, it\u2019s hard to say. You don\u2019t really know. It\u2019s possible, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tAhuja, however, isn\u2019t regretting Netflix\u2019s win, stating, \u201cThe goal of the deal was to make hits. One great thing about being an independent is we\u2019re happy when our clients do well. So they did well, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d 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 \u201cVivo,\u201d \u201cCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,\u201d \u201cHotel Transylvania 2\u201d and \u201cSurf\u2019s Up 2: WaveMania.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja discussed the studio\u2019s breakout movie of the summer, \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,2744,1316,67379,67380],"class_list":["post-121266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-netflix","tag-ravi-ahuja","tag-sony-animation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}