Stray Kids' 'dominATE' goes to the big screen

Seeing my favorite K-pop boy group, Stray Kids, on the big screen brought me back to the first time I saw them perform in 2024, when they played in Bulacan as part of their “dominATE World Tour.”

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

Except this time, I wasn’t in the Philippine Arena. Instead, it felt like I was in Inglewood, watching the octet perform at SoFi Stadium, the very venue that the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, BTS, BLACKPINK, and their JYP Entertainment labelmate TWICE have occupied.

Recorded on May 31 and June 1 last year, Stray Kids performed at the iconic California stadium, which can hold up to 70,240 attendees. Their 13-show U.S. leg garnered almost half a million fans (called STAYs) and grossed $76.2 million in revenue according to a report by Billboard.

Released a year later, their concert film, titled “The dominATE Experience,” bagged a major distributor for its global release — Universal Pictures, which partnered with Live Nation Studios, the film’s producer. In the Philippines, the Stray Kids concert feature is exclusively shown at SM Cinema since February 4.

Bagging a major Hollywood studio to distribute their recorded live show in cinemas is proof of how much the K-pop group has grown since their 2018 debut. Stray Kids consists of leader Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N