Sony CEO Defends Selling K-pop Demon Hunters to Netflix

At the Bank of America's Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in New York on Thursday, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja talked about the studio's summer blockbuster, "KPop Demon Hunters." Ahuja stated that the agreement with the streaming service "made sense" when discussing Sony's distribution agreement with Netflix with analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich.

For a direct-to-streaming release, Sony produced "KPop Demon Hunters" and sold Netflix the distribution rights. With 236 million views, the animated fantasy musical surpassed "Red Notice" to become the most-streamed film ever on the platform. Then, on August 23, a sing-along version of the movie opened in theaters, grossing over $19 million during its first weekend on 1,700 screens.

Many have conjectured that Sony ought to have retained "KPop Demon Hunters" for exclusive theatrical distribution in light of the movie's extraordinary success. As he continues to struggle with the concept, Ahuja tells Ehrlich,

"This is the question we ask ourselves and everybody's asking us too." I'm not sure, you know.

After giving some background on the movie's sale, Ahuja clarified that Sony created the movie as part of the studio's output agreement 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, acknowledge that Netflix's involvement and the buzz generated by the streamer may have contributed to "KPop Demon Hunters'" success.

“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.”

Although Ahuja was quick to point out that Sony contributes to the soundtrack through Sony Music Publishing, Netflix still owns the music and merchandising rights to the movie. More importantly, though, Sony still has the right to produce the movie's sequels, which might lead to different release plans.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, who co-wrote the screenplay with Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan, are the directors of "KPop Demon Hunters." Producing it is Michelle Wong, who previously worked on "Vivo," "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," "Hotel Transylvania 2," and "Surf's Up 2: WaveMania" for Sony Pictures Animation.

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