Intro for October 17, 2025

Dear Gossips,   

KPop Demon Hunters is an unstoppable force, topping charts and Netflix’s Top 10, featuring on SNL, and I suspect, dominating Halloween costumes in a couple weeks. Netflix has produced some big movies over the years, but nothing that has ever really felt like a cultural moment, but KPop Demon Hunters is unquestionably a breakthrough hit, finally giving Netflix the kind of cultural touchstone on their film side that they’ve enjoyed on the TV side for years. As such, Demon Hunters is returning to theaters on Halloween weekend for another sing-along engagement.

This time, though, it’s especially notable because AMC, the biggest theater chain in North America, is getting in on the action, setting the film in 400 theaters. AMC, which leadership has been vocal about supporting exclusive theatrical releases, hasn’t run a Netflix movie since 2022’s Glass Onion. But for HUNTR/X, they’re making an exception, which, honestly, they should have done before during the August theatrical release of Demon Hunters, which AMC skipped. They’re only shooting themselves in the foot, everyone made money that weekend, and everyone will make money this time, too.

Netflix is famously theater-adverse, preferring to train their audience to watch movies at home—absolutely insane in the case of something like Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein—but there is a limit to how many people can and will subscribe to paid platforms. Sure, Netflix has crossed 300 million subscribers, but their focus is shifting to “monetization”, meaning ad revenue is playing a bigger role in their business plan. That means somebody somewhere in the company knows they’ve either reached or are close to reaching their subscriber ceiling, and they’ll need other ways to grow revenue. (Alternatively, we could abandon the “constant growth” model in favor of something less flashy but more sustainable for more people.)

Doing more special-engagement theatrical releases is another way of “monetizing” films. I mean, it’s actually the OLDEST way of monetizing films, it’s literally what the entire film industry is built upon. But for Netflix, which wants people endlessly scrolling at home, increasing their theatrical footprint is just another data point in the revenue wars. I have said for years now movie studios should be more flexible with their release plans—leave successful movies in theaters longer, but don’t worry about cutting bait on something that’s flopping—but that works both ways. Streamers can be more flexible, too. After all, KPop Demon Hunters was a huge hit on Netflix first, the sing-along screenings work because of the streaming release.

I truly do not think theaters and streamers have to be enemies. Home video didn’t kill movies theatrically, and streamers don’t have to either—except for the way it feels like some execs on the streamer side actively WANT to do that. But I believe these audience ecosystems can not only co-exist but actively feed each other to everyone’s benefit. Movies with theatrical releases do better on streaming, and streaming hits can make for event viewing in theaters, especially during slower periods at the box office. 

Guess what? October has been slow, enough that I’m not sure AMC would have gotten on board with another sing-along weekend if the box office were any better. But the box office does kind of suck right now, and this time, AMC is getting in on the HUNTR/X action. Maybe Kpop can do more than dominate Netflix, maybe it can save theaters, too.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah