Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party (Karwai Tang/Getty Images)
Bear with us, it's more 'KPop Demon Hunters.' To nobody's surprise, the sequel to Netflix's biggest movie ever was officially announced earlier this month. Now the deal details have surfaced, and they say a lot about how Netflix plans to keep its franchise creators happy:
- Sony's getting a major raise. The studio originally made just ~$20M on the first film due to some unfortunate Covid-era deal terms. For the sequel, they're getting ~$40M, a retroactive bump on the first film to match, a merch royalty, and performance bonuses.
- The filmmakers had massive leverage. Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans had no sequel options in their original contracts, which meant Netflix had to negotiate from scratch. The duo reportedly considered walking during talks, and Kang had competing offers elsewhere.
- Both scored showrunner-style overall deals, exclusive to Netflix for ~5 years at a combined ~$10M/year (guaranteed), with a cut of franchise ancillary revenue including merch, retroactive to the first film. They'll also participate in music revenue on the sequel (but not the first film, where Sony had already cut a deal with Republic Records).
In other words, Netflix is running the franchise playbook. Kang and Appelhans consult on merch and spinoffs, a branded concert tour is reportedly in the works, and the company is hiring a dedicated exec just to manage the property.
The bigger picture: Netflix has spent years chasing the kind of superfandom that Disney has with Mickey Mouse, Marvel, and its theme park empire. The challenge has been that Netflix built its brand on variety and volume, not beloved characters. They've never really had a franchise that moves merch, sells out concerts, and lives in the culture the way Disney properties do. Now they finally have one. And with the Duffer brothers recently jumping to Paramount for their next chapter after wrapping ‘Stranger Things,’ there's extra incentive to keep your franchise creators close.
