{"id":479645,"date":"2026-03-17T02:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479645\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T02:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:52:12","slug":"how-kpop-demon-hunters-ended-its-first-year-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479645\/","title":{"rendered":"How KPop Demon Hunters Ended Its First Year Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThis is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,\u201d KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> director Maggie Kang emotionally declared while accepting the Oscar for best animated film Sunday night. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Korean-Canadian filmmaker, along with her co-director Chris Appelhans and their cast, have been on a nearly yearlong promotional run for the Netflix<\/a>-Sony Pictures Animation<\/a> film after it became a surprise hit for the streaming platform. K-pop fans, unsurprisingly, seemed to be the first to tune into the film when it premiered on Netflix. As the summer went on, the general public started to pay attention, and its success only skyrocketed, earning it the title of Netflix\u2019s most-watched film ever.<\/p>\n

\n\tKPDH earned two Academy Awards; the songwriting team took home best original song for the film\u2019s breakout hit, \u201cGolden,\u201d while the film took home best animated feature. By the time the cast and crew made it to the Oscars stage, they\u2019d already won a slew of honors across several awards shows, including the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and the Grammy Awards. \u201cGolden\u201d winning at both the Oscars and the Grammys proved to be a historic moment, as it became the first time K-pop was awarded at each show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe project chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a K-pop girl group made up of three members who also just happen to fight monsters from the underworld. EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna acted as the singing voices for the film\u2019s trio of main characters, while Arden Cho, May Hong and Ji-young Yoo were the speaking voices for the characters.<\/p>\n

\n\tSunday\u2019s wins were emotional all around, not only for those involved on a professional level but also a personal one. KPDH\u2019s cultural impact over the last year exceeded anyone\u2019s expectations.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor those of you who look like me, I\u2019m so sorry that it took so long to see us in a movie like this,\u201d Kang told the audience, seemingly referring to the animation space. She later told the press backstage that she hoped that the success of KPDH inspired more animated work that is as rooted in its culture as the film is.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKang, Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong, winners of the best animated feature film Oscar for KPop Demon Hunters.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teff Kravitz\/FilmMagic<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film also provided a mainstream window in the culture of K-pop itself. \u201cBeing a fan of K-pop music<\/a> since the \u201990s, when it was first created, really. That\u2019s where my love started and to see it kind of \u2026 just be loved by audiences globally, it just means so much to me,\u201d Kang said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile every detail about the fictional K-pop groups\u2019 lives was not 100 percent accurate \u2014 just ask BTS member Jungkook or any of the other K-pop idols who loved and dissected the film for fans\u00a0\u2014 KPDH allowed those working behind-the-scenes in the space a moment in the spotlight. It also brought K-pop to audiences who had been resistant to it. No one can call K-pop a niche genre of music in the U.S. after Sunday\u2019s Oscars, where on the telecast, the likes of Steven Spielberg, Emma Stone, Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio and more of those seated in the Oscars\u2019 front rows were seen bopping along to \u201cGolden\u201d with K-pop lightsticks in hand.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGrowing up, people made fun of me liking K-pop, but now everyone\u2019s singing our song and all the Korean lyrics. I\u2019m so proud,\u201d said EJAE, the powerhouse singing voice behind the film\u2019s main character, Rumi, and a songwriter on \u201cGolden\u201d and several other tracks from the movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tEJAE accepted the Oscar for \u201cGolden\u201d alongside co-writers Mark Sonnenblick, Yuhan, Zhun, NHD and 24, from Korean label TheBlackLabel. Teddy Park, founder of the TheBlackLabel and producer on the song, also won the award. It\u2019s particularly poignant that EJAE, who performed \u201cGolden\u201d at the show alongside her fellow Huntrix members, and Park are behind K-pop\u2019s first Oscar and Grammy awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen EJAE, now 34, began her K-pop journey, she had hopes to be an idol herself. She joined one of the top Korean music labels, SM Entertainment, where she was a trainee for 10 years. After SM failed to debut her in a K-pop group, EJAE began writing songs for the genre. Prior to KPDH, she built herself a career influencing the world of K-pop through her songwriting credits, and she\u2019s behind several Korean hits, including Red Velvet\u2019s \u201cPsycho,\u201d considered to be one of the best modern K-pop songs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRei Ami, EJAE and Audrey Nuna of HUNTRIX perform onstage during the Oscars.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Park, is a storied and well-known producer in the genre, who rose to fame in Korea as a member of an idol hip-hop boy group, under YG Entertainment. He then went on to shape the sonic direction of the label\u2019s game-changing acts \u2014 Blackpink, Big Bang and 2NE1, just to name a few \u2014 through his work as a producer.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the KPDH chapter comes to a close, they\u2019ll begin the long task of its sequel film. The Hollywood Reporter\u00a0first broke the news in August that a\u00a0sequel film was in talks<\/a>\u00a0at Netflix and Sony Animation. Last week, Netflix closed deals with Kang and Appelhans<\/a> for the sequel as part of a new, multiyear writing and directing pact. A confirmed sequel release date has yet to be announced.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf anything can be learned from the cast and crew of KPDH, it\u2019s that success isn\u2019t overnight. Kang herself had been working on the film for seven years before it was released. \u201cI realized, like the song, this award is not about success,\u201d EJAE told the Oscars crowd. \u201cIt\u2019s about resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,\u201d KPop Demon Hunters director Maggie Kang emotionally declared while accepting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10388,170530,96,13984,32652,2839,128,392,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-479645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-animation-showcase","tag-entertainment","tag-k-pop-news","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-movies","tag-music","tag-netflix","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}