• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

While Netflix is still searching for more traditional movie artistic honors -- like an Oscar best picture win -- it snatched up its first weekend financial theatrical victory: Top North American box-office revenue weekend for its “KPop Demon Hunters.”

Analysts estimate the animated movie took in between $18 million and $20 million -- besting “Weapons” in its second week of release, where the movie took in $15.6 million, according to Warner Bros., the film's distributor.

Studios typically disclose weekend box-office revenue for the theatrical movies. Netflix, however, does not report theatrical revenue grosses -- adding to its recent move to no longer disclose quarterly changes in global subscriber numbers.

The Netflix theatrical release is unusual because “KPop” has been on the streamer's platform since June.

Movie theaters have had a turbulent relationship with growing streaming efforts around new theatrically targeted movies versus films appearing for the first time in theaters.

The biggest U.S. movie chain, AMC Theaters, has for a long time refused to play movies in theaters when films have already been airing on streaming services or other distribution platforms.

But other major theater groups -- Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theaters -- did show “KPop” in its opening weekend. Overall, the movie was in 1,700 North American theaters.

Netflix has had ten Best Picture nominations overall, but has never received the top award. Its most recent nomination was for “Maestro” for the 2024 Oscar awards.