The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Town with Matthew Belloni
The Ringer
Why ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Is a Fascinating Hollywood Experiment
32 minutes Posted Aug 25, 2025 at 9:28 pm.
Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss Netflix’s surprise hit ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ which has become their second-most popular English-language film. Unexpectedly, Netflix decided to release ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ in theaters, where it brought in nearly $20 million in ticket sales despite releasing on streaming in June. Matt and Lucas discuss why Netflix did this despite its very clear view on movie theaters, whether the movie could have been a massive hit had it gone straight to theaters, and why AMC refused to show this movie
Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the upcoming season of ‘Saturday Night Live’
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Show notes
Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss Netflix’s surprise hit ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ which has become their second-most popular English-language film. Unexpectedly, Netflix decided to release ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ in theaters, where it brought in nearly $20 million in ticket sales despite releasing on streaming in June. Matt and Lucas discuss why Netflix did this despite its very clear view on movie theaters, whether the movie could have been a massive hit had it gone straight to theaters, and why AMC refused to show this movie (02:49). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about the upcoming season of ‘Saturday Night Live’ (24:45).
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Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw
Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices