5 Netflix Animated Movies That Had Bigger Openings Than KPop Demon Hunters

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In 2025, the animated film KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and produced by Sony Pictures Animation, became Netflix’s most popular movie ever, racking up 481.6 million views. It surpassed the previous record holder, Red Notice, which had relied on the star power of Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, and Dwayne Johnson to attract viewers. The film went on to win two Academy Awards in 2026 – Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for “Golden” – making Maggie Kang the first filmmaker of South Korean descent to earn that honor. Due to its widespread critical and commercial success, Netflix has announced a sequel with Kang and Appelhans returning, and is also exploring several television spin-offs to expand the KPop Demon Hunters universe.

Despite being a significant cultural moment, KPop Demon Hunters didn’t start strong on Netflix, attracting only 9.2 million views in its first week – far fewer than the platform’s most popular shows. The movie gained momentum over time through positive buzz, Netflix’s recommendation system, and people watching it multiple times, which allowed it to stay in the weekly Top 10 for an impressive 31 weeks. However, several other animated films actually performed better than KPop Demon Hunters during their first week on Netflix, though none have achieved the same level of recognition.

5) Orion and the Dark

DreamWorks Animation’s Orion and the Dark, written by Charlie Kaufman, tells the story of Orion, a worried young boy (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), who learns to face his fears with the help of Dark (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser), who literally comes to life. Released on Netflix on February 2, 2024, the film quickly surpassed the viewership of KPop Demon Hunters, reaching 9.2 million views. Families appreciated the film’s clever approach to childhood fear – portraying it as a kind, complex character – and critics praised the unique way Kaufman structured the story. However, unlike KPop Demon Hunters, which gained lasting popularity thanks to catchy songs, Orion and the Dark saw its initial success fade after a few weeks, following a typical pattern for animated films.

4) Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Aardman Animations’ Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget premiered on Netflix on December 15, 2023, after a 23-year wait since the first film. It quickly drew in viewers, racking up 11.9 million views in its first three days. This placed the sequel fourth among new releases for that week, behind only Leo, and showed that people still loved Aardman’s unique stop-motion animation and the returning characters of Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (voiced by Zachary Levi). The new film, directed by Sam Fell, introduces Molly, Ginger and Rocky’s daughter (voiced by Bella Ramsey), and shifts the story into a heist-movie format, offering enough fresh content to appeal to both longtime fans and new audiences.

3) Swapped

Skydance Animation’s Swapped launched on Netflix on May 1, 2026, and quickly became a hit, racking up 15.5 million views in its first three days. Netflix reported this was the biggest opening weekend for an animated film on the platform since Leo in 2023. The comedy, directed by Nathan Greno, tells the story of Ollie (voiced by Michael B. Jordan), a small forest creature, and Ivy (voiced by uno Temple), a beautiful bird, who accidentally switch bodies. They must then learn to live as each other and overcome the historic rivalry between their species. Swapped continued to perform well, achieving a record 38.7 million views in its second week – the highest single-week total for any animated Netflix original. This strong second week proves the movie’s lasting appeal, but even the initial opening weekend numbers were significantly better than the slow start KPop Demon Hunters needed months to recover from.

2) The Sea Beast

Chris Williams, known for his work on films like Big Hero 6 and Moana, directed The Sea Beast for Netflix. The movie launched on July 8, 2022, and quickly attracted around 17.5 million viewers in its first three days. This was almost twice the opening weekend audience for KPop Demon Hunters. The film tells an original story about a seafaring adventure, following the monster hunter Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban) whose beliefs are challenged when an orphan named Maisie Brumble (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator) sneaks onto his ship. The Sea Beast ultimately garnered 165 million hours of viewing time in its first five months and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, thanks to the impressive visual style Williams brought to the project.

1) Leo

I was so excited to hear how well Adam Sandler’s Leo did on Netflix! It broke all the records for animated originals, getting over 34.6 million views in just six days – that’s way more than KPop Demon Hunters had when it first came out. The movie is about Leo, an older lizard who’s been a class pet for years, and he decides to try and teach a group of worried fifth graders some important life lessons because he thinks his time is limited. Netflix timed the release perfectly, dropping it right before Thanksgiving, which is when a lot of families are looking for something to watch together. Honestly, Adam Sandler always brings in a crowd, but I think the movie’s themes – dealing with anxiety and understanding what happens when we die – really made parents want to watch with their kids, instead of just having it on in the background. It’s a really sweet story!

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2026-05-19 20:16