SEOUL \u2013 As the Huntrix sing in the song Golden, it is their moment and they are only \u201cgoing up, up, up\u201d.<\/p>\n
The fictional girl group from Netflix\u2019s record-shattering animation KPop Demon Hunters will get more screen time, according to US entertainment site The Wrap.<\/p>\n
Netflix is reportedly planning to turn\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters into a film trilogy, with sequels on the way.<\/p>\n
The Wrap also said the streaming platform plans to expand the universe further, turning it into a franchise that includes a stage musical and a live-action remake. A short film to \u201cbridge content\u201d between the movies is also in the pipeline.<\/p>\n
While Netflix has yet to make any official announcements, it will be a missed opportunity if it does not capitalise on the animation\u2019s massive success.<\/p>\n
The animated film about Huntrix \u2013 comprising Rumi, Zooey and Mira (voiced by actresses Arden Cho, Yoo Ji-young and May Hong respectively) \u2013 who protect the world against Saja Boys, demons disguised as K-pop idols, has taken down all competition to become Netflix\u2019s most-watched original animated film.<\/p>\n
It reached its peak viewership six weeks after its launch on June 20, a feat that has never happened before. The movie also received a whopping 26.3 million views for the week of July 21 to 27.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s soundtrack, produced by K-pop label Black Label and featuring lyricists behind BTS hits, also saw a meteoric rise. The album amassed more than 41 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with all eight tracks breaking into Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 charts and Golden at No. 2.<\/p>\n
On Aug 1, Golden also<\/p>\n
topped the UK Official Singles Chart, marking the first K-pop song to reach No. 1 in over a decade. Golden reached the peak in its sixth week on the chart, rising three spots from the previous week.<\/p>\n
The UK Official Charts Company highlighted that this is the first K-pop No. 1 on the British chart since Psy\u2019s record-breaking Gangnam Style in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
KPop Demon Hunters\u2019 co-directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans told US entertainment portal The Ankler on July 30 that \u201cit would be a missed opportunity not to pursue expanding the film\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost movies end with a possibility because you always want to keep that door open. There are a lot of backstories that we haven\u2019t fleshed out,\u201d Kang told The Ankler.<\/p>\n
Netflix hopes the movie will score gold at the 2026 Oscars. The Ankler reported that the film had a one-week, three-theatre run in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, qualifying it for an Oscar nomination, with Golden having a chance to be considered in the Best Original Song category.<\/p>\n
Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos hailed the film as a \u201cphenomenal success\u201d at a recent second-quarter earnings call.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPeople are in love with this film and in love with the music from this film, and that will keep it going for a long time. Now the next beat is, where does it go from here?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL \u2013 As the Huntrix sing in the song Golden, it is their moment and they are only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136,5813,37328],"class_list":["post-42513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-south-korea","tag-the-straits-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}