Netflix is going bigger on the big screen, and its animated phenomenon is leading the charge. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Wednesday that the KPop Demon Hunters sequel will get “a very broad theatrical release” when it arrives.
“When the ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ sequel comes, you can expect a very broad theatrical release,” Sarandos said at Bloomberg Screentime in Los Angeles, as TheWrap reports.
The promise came as Sarandos laid out the streamer’s expanding theatrical ambitions. Netflix will give its first full 45-day theatrical window to La Bola Negra, and more will follow: Greta Gerwig’s Narnia is getting a wide theatrical release next year, as is the animated Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, while David Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth becomes the first Netflix film released in IMAX this November.
“What we’re doing is looking at this model and saying, ‘Okay, how do we serve movie lovers who may want to see this movie in a theater,’ and ‘How do we not harm value to Netflix?'” Sarandos said. “How do we position the film best in the world?”
The sequel already has a proven theatrical audience waiting. When the first film’s sing-along version hit theaters last summer, fans immediately called for more dates, and the film went on to become Netflix’s most popular film ever.
Sarandos pointed to exactly that kind of passion as the reason for the strategy. “The most passionate audience went to see it in the theater,” he said, arguing that by the time a film reaches Netflix, the streamer is left with the “Oh, I meant to see that” crowd. A critical part of the plan, he added, is matching the release to the film, from arthouse titles like La Bola Negra to wide-appeal family movies like KPop Demon Hunters.
No release date has been announced for the sequel yet.