Netflix’s #1 Action Movie Officially One of the Biggest Streaming Events of 2026

The biggest movie in Netflix’s history has reached new heights of success, more than a year after its breakout release. One of 2025’s sleeper hits launched with little fanfare or even corporate promotion, and for the first two weeks, it was largely buried under the platform’s overwhelming offerings. It then surged up the streaming charts in its third week, after its soundtrack caught fire on social media. Netflix’s animated urban fantasy took the world by storm that’s still raging in 2026.

Netflix’s Iconic Girl Group Slays the Competition

Nielsen has released the top 20 kids’ movies that dominated this year, and Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters took the second spot with 5.59 billion minutes viewed. The movie is shaping up to become one of the top streaming events of 2026. It has well outpaced Zootopia, GOAT, Swapped, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the rankings. KPop Demon Hunters was the most-streamed movie of 2025 and spent 52 consecutive weeks in Netflix’s global Top 10 charts — it’s also the platform’s most-watched film to date with 325.1 million views, beating Red Notice (230.9 million views).

KPop Demon Hunters amassed such a passionate following that Netflix was prompted to release it in theaters, and fans treated the screenings as communal musical events, thanks to the movie’s earworm soundtrack. Musical breaks like “Golden” and “What It Sounds Like” were more impactful as a shared experience, and audiences were encouraged to sing along thanks to on-screen subtitles. KPop Demon Hunters recreated concert culture and propelled K-pop to the global stage, and the movie’s animated characters, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, became international superstars. The film celebrated its first anniversary last June with a global screening event, in theaters, outdoors, and on TikTok.

RANK	TITLE	PLATFORM	MINUTES VIEWED IN BILLIONS
1.	Zootopia 2	Disney+	6.54
2.	KPop Demon Hunters	Netflix	5.59
3.	Zootopia	Disney+	3.36
4.	GOAT	Netflix	3.30
5.	Swapped	Netflix	2.96
6.	Super Mario Bros. Movie	Netflix	2.89
7.	Cars	Disney+	2.72
8.	Hoppers	Disney+	2.44
9.	A Minecraft Movie	HBO Max	2.37
10.	Frozen	Disney+	2.36

KPop Demon Hunters revolves around HUNTR/X, a world-famous K-pop girl group who descended from a long line of warriors tasked with protecting humanity through the power of music. Their world tour is interrupted by the arrival of a rival boy band, whose members are really demons sent by an ancient evil hell-bent on breaking the barrier protecting earth. At its core, the film is about loss, friendship, love, and redemption — it’s a universal story that also introduced Korean culture into the mainstream.

“We wanted every little detail to be historically and culturally correct,” director Maggie Kang told Deadline. “One of the biggest things is that I wanted to show Korea the way that I know it and the way it is. I didn’t want to make things up or have this be a fantasized version of Asian culture… I wanted every part of this movie to be Korean.” That commitment to authenticity lent the film its unique yet universal identity, which is now globally embraced.

Is ‘KPop Demon Hunters 2’ in the Works?

Kang is currently working on the sequel, which she teased will be “fresh, surprising, and original.” We have no word on plot details as the project is in early development, but based on the storylines left hanging in the original, we’re hoping to learn more about Mira and Zoey’s backstories and the Saja Boys’ redemption arc.