Netflix’s New Animated Hit Opens Bigger Than ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Did, But Can It Become the Next Phenomenon?

Netflix has been on a remarkable streak with animated features, and the platform’s appetite for the genre shows no signs of slowing down. After the genre-defying dominance of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ throughout the second half of 2025, the streamer is back with a colorful new contender.

‘Swapped’, directed by Nathan Greno and produced by John Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Mary Ellen Bauder Andrews, is a co-production between Netflix and Skydance Animation. The film centers on two natural enemies of The Valley, a small woodland creature and a majestic bird, who suddenly switch bodies and are forced to navigate the world from entirely new vantage points.

Greno returns to features for the first time since directing ‘Tangled’ in 2010, lending ‘Swapped’ some considerable animated pedigree. The voice cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Juno Temple, and Tracy Morgan, with the film following a pookoo named Ollie and a bird named Ivy as they discover the world through each other’s eyes. Jordan’s performance marks his first screen credit since winning the Oscar for ‘Sinners’, which gives the film an extra layer of star power at the box office of public curiosity.

According to Netflix’s own viewership data, ‘Swapped’ landed as the number two English-language film on the platform during its opening week, premiering May 1st and racking up 15.5 million views, representing the biggest three-day opening for a Netflix animated film since ‘Leo’.

To appreciate the scale of that figure, consider what ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ looked like out of the gate. When ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ debuted last year, it opened with just 5.4 million views for a total of 9 million hours streamed, a fraction of what ‘Swapped’ managed in its first few days.

Of course, raw opening numbers are only part of the story. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ transformed into a global sensation through word of mouth, and it continues to place in Netflix’s weekly top 10 nearly a full year after its debut, a run described as unprecedented. The film drew 482 million views during the second half of 2025 alone, ranking first among all content on Netflix over that period. It went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 98th Oscars, with director and co-writer Maggie Kang dedicating the win to Korea and Koreans everywhere.

Whether ‘Swapped’ can sustain momentum anywhere close to that remains the real question. Critical reception has been mixed, sitting at a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers have noted that what the film lacks in narrative originality, it compensates for through a game voice cast, a wonderfully realized world, and a surprisingly dark spin on its story. More skeptical critics, however, point to a rushed pace, arguing that the core plot, in which Ollie and Ivy travel throughout The Valley in search of glowing pods, rarely does enough to deepen either character.

Still, audiences appear to be showing up in strong numbers, and Netflix clearly has an eye on building out its animated slate. The streamer can point to ‘Zootopia 2’ ending its theatrical run as the highest-grossing domestic film of 2025, and Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ earning the strongest debut for an original animated movie since 2017, as proof that appetite for animation remains high. ‘Swapped’ arrives into that cultural moment with undeniable energy, even if its long-term staying power is far from guaranteed.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ set a bar that may take years to clear, but for now, ‘Swapped’ is making a convincing case that Netflix’s animated ambitions are in good health. Let us know in the comments whether you think ‘Swapped’ has what it takes to become Netflix’s next big animated sensation.