LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Netflix<\/a> appears to have its first No. 1 box-office title in the streaming company\u2019s 18-year history thanks to the sensation of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Rival studios on Sunday estimated \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d led all films over the weekend with $16-18 million in ticket sales. Distribution executives from three studios shared their estimates for the Netflix phenomenon on condition of anonymity because the streaming company<\/a> has a policy of not reporting ticket sales.<\/p>\n Following a dominating few weeks as one of the most popular Netflix releases ever, the streamer put the film into 1,750 theaters for sing-along screenings Saturday and Sunday. Studios are able to accurately estimate ticket sales for all releases on Sunday morning, though the uncommon nature of the \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d releases means a wider variance. Some estimates were as high as $20 million.<\/p>\n It amounted to a victory lap for \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d<\/a> arguably the biggest hit of Hollywood\u2019s summer, and an ironic success for Netflix, whose emphasis on streaming, not theatrical release, upended the movie industry. Another sore spot for Hollywood: The film was developed and produced by Sony Pictures, which sold it to Netflix.<\/p>\n Not all exhibitors went along. AMC, the largest theater chain in North America, declined to show the movie. But that didn\u2019t stop Netflix from claiming the box-office title its more traditional competitors typically own.<\/p>\n David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe, called it \u201ca completely unique two-day musical event.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt may turn out to be higher,\u201d said Gross. \u201cTheater owners are quick on their feet and can add capacity according to demand.\u201d<\/p>\n The theatrical release, though limited, is out of the ordinary for the streaming giant, which has long stressed a commitment to subscriber releases. The movie debuted on the platform in late June and is currently Netflix’s most-watched animated original film.<\/p>\n The film centers on Huntr\/x, a KPop superstar trio who double as demon hunters. The members, Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zooey (Ji-young Yoo), must protect their fans and face their biggest enemy yet: a rival boy band made up of demons in disguise.<\/p>\n Zach Cregger’s horror hit \u201cWeapons\u201d<\/a> maintained strength in the box office during its third weekend, bringing in $15.6 million domestically. The buzzy horror movie<\/a> has proved its staying power, raking in over $100 million globally since its release.<\/p>\n Disney’s \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d<\/a> landed behind the horror movie once again, earning $9.2 million in North American theaters.<\/p>\n The two films are \u201creal bright spots\u201d as the box office heads into a \u201crather quiet finish\u201d for the summer, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the data firm Comscore. Both films, which premiered simultaneously earlier this month, had a minimal 36% drop from last weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have to look at the currency of the goodwill generated by people having these great summer moviegoing experiences,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201cWe have to look at that as a more important metric than just the bottom-line dollars and cents.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps”<\/a> earned $5.9 million domestically during its fifth weekend. The movie enjoyed a strong $118 million debut<\/a> but has experienced a steady decline.<\/p>\n Newcomer \u201cHoney Don\u2019t!\u201d<\/a> opened in 1,317 North American theaters with a weekend gross estimate of $3 million, in line with expectations. The movie made it to the top 10, right above \u201cThe Naked Gun.”<\/a><\/p>\n The dark comedy stars Margaret Qualley as Honey O\u2019Donahue, a small-town private investigator who investigates a slew of strange deaths tied to a church in Bakersfield, California.<\/p>\n With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:<\/p>\n 1. \u201cWeapons,\u201d $15.6 million.<\/p>\n 2. \u201cFreakier Friday,\u201d $9.2 million.<\/p>\n 3. \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps,\u201d $5.9 million.<\/p>\n 4. \u201cThe Bad Guys 2,” $5.1 million.<\/p>\n 5. \u201cNobody 2,” $3.7 million.<\/p>\n 6. \u201cSuperman,” $3.4 million.<\/p>\n 7. \u201cHoney Don’t!” $3 million.<\/p>\n 8. \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d $3 million.<\/p>\n 9. \u201cJurassic World Rebirth,” $2.1 million.<\/p>\n 10. \u201cRelay,\u201d $2 million.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Coyle reported from New York.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Netflix appears to have its first No. 1 box-office title in the streaming company\u2019s 18-year history thanks to the sensation of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters.\u201d Rival studios on Sunday estimated \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d led all films over the weekend with $16-18 million in ticket sales. Distribution executives from three studios shared their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1977676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21741,22773,24495],"class_list":["post-1977675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-national","tag-state"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/KPop-Demon-Hunters-gives-Netflix-its-first-box-office-win.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1977675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1977676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1977675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1977675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1977675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Top 10 movies by domestic box office<\/h2>\n