Kpop Demon Hunters has won best animated film at the Oscars on Sunday evening – the latest in a growing list of accolades for the movie that has swept the world since it was released last summer.
At Oona Herman’s elementary school in San Francisco, stickers of bright-haired characters from Kpop Demon Hunters have become the hottest currency.
Traded among students, these stickers, like so much else to do with the hit film -about a K-pop girl group using their golden voices to fight demons – are everywhere in eight-year-old Oona’s life.
At Kpop Demon Hunters-themed birthday parties she attends, children get goodie bags with movie merchandise and pose for photos with giant cut-outs. Of course, they also scream along to the film’s chart-topping soundtrack.
Oona cannot decide what she likes most about Kpop Demon Hunters, so she declares: “The characters, and all the dance moves and songs!”
Since its release on Netflix last summer, Kpop Demon Hunters has earned recognition on the biggest stages. It won the Golden Globe for best animated feature and best original song; it became the first-ever K-pop song to win a Grammy; and it has now won both Oscars it was nominated for as well.
The film’s virality has taken the world by surprise – and its creators too.
So much so that when the film blew up, fans lamented over the lack of merchandise. Netflix told Hollywood Reporter that its pitch for merch ahead of the release drew only “soft” interest from retailers. Now companies are racing to get those toys on the shelves.
But Oona and her friends aren’t the only ones under the spell of the demon-busting crooners. Her mother, Christine Kao, was surprised by how much she enjoyed it too.
“When we’re watching it, I really cry every time,” she tells the BBC.
“Oona’s always like, ‘Why are you crying?’ I was like, ‘Because it’s so beautiful! I think that caught on to a lot of adults unexpectedly.”
If you haven’t watched Kpop Demon Hunters, the below sections contain spoilers.