20 Movies Way More Successful Than Anyone Expected
19. KPop Demon Hunters
And now for the most recent entry on this list, albeit a film whose enormous success can't be measured by box office bucks.
Animated musical fantasy KPop Demon Hunters was originally produced by Sony, who ultimately decided to sell the distribution rights to Netflix for a direct-to-streaming release with a minimal theatrical engagement.
And within two months of its release on the streaming platform, the film had surpassed Red Notice as the most-watched Netflix Original of all time, and it later overtook TV series Squid Game as Netflix's most-watched title ever.
As of mid-September, KPop Demon Hunters has racked up more than 300 million views - a practically unthinkable number when the film released back in June, even accepting the enormous popularity of both animation and Korean media on Netflix.
The mesmerising viewership gave Sony a moment for pause, for while Netflix reportedly paid them the film's entire $100 million budget, they couldn't help but wonder if a theatrical release would've been the more profitable call.
After all, despite being readily available on Netflix, the film's brief theatrical release in singalong form grossed $19.2 million, making it the streamer's best-performing theatrical film, beating out Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story.