Kpop Demon Hunters/Happy Gilmore 2
Netflix executives must be popping champagne right now as they are currently putting out multiple original films breaking multiple records for the service, all the way back since its arrival in 2010. What just happened?
Happy Gilmore 2, the long-awaited sequel to the Adam Sandler comedy classic, has just broken the record for the most opening weekend views for a Netflix original in history. That is 46.7 million views in its first three days. And even the original Happy Gilmore racked up 11.4 million views this week as a precursor to that release (it’s about to leave Netflix due to licensing).
The historical math here is a touch fuzzy. It seems the previous record-holder was Red Notice with 148 million hours viewed, but that’s not views total. In terms of actual views that might be…another Adam Sandler movie, Murder Mystery, which had 30.8 million views in three days. Happy Gilmore 2 would be 50% more than that.
Second record time! That’s KPop Demon Hunters which has set many records already, but it’s just hit a new one. KPop Demon Hunters is now the most-watched Netflix animated movie in history. The announcement did not come with specific numbers, and I’m not sure we have enough past data to track its competitors, but Netflix says it snagged the record. Previously, Netflix made the best-reviewed comedy of the decade, The Mitchells Versus the Machines.
KPop Demon Hunters has spent six weeks in the top 10, and still did half of Happy Gilmore 2’s opening weekend in this sixth week. The previous record that KPop Demon Hunters just set a week ago was a movie that hit its peak viewership five weeks after launch, which has never happened before. Now, it’s Netflix’s most-watched animated movie ever.
As of now, KPop Demon Hunters has not broken into the Top 10 of all-time Netflix original movies in terms of viewership, but it likely will soon. The most recent entry on that list was Carry-On, which went all the way to #2 with 172 million views. Number one is the aforementioned Red Notice with a hard-to-beat 230 million views.
It seems likely, if not almost a guarantee, that Happy Gilmore 2 will make its way into that Top 10 list, and may end up near the top by the end of its three month run (which is what’s taken into account for the list). It would be the only film there that is a sequel, and a sequel to something that wasn’t a Netflix original, no less. I think this is a when, not if situation in terms of its top 10 arrival. It’s already close to a third of the way to landing in seventh place or so after just three days, which is deeply impressive. That said, fast-starter Murder Mystery isn’t on the list, so we’ll see.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.