{"id":47628,"date":"2025-07-30T13:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T13:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/47628\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T13:38:08","slug":"kpop-demon-hunters-how-netflixs-animated-film-became-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/47628\/","title":{"rendered":"‘KPop Demon Hunters’: How Netflix’s animated film became a hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 In the colorful, animated, musical world of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d everyone is a fan. The general public rocks T-shirts supporting their favorite idols. They hold light sticks<\/a> and stare starry-eyed at stadium stages; they scream, they cry, they cheer, they buy the merch. <\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise, then, that the Sony Pictures\/ Netflix<\/a> film itself has inspired similar fanfare, having topped the streamer\u2019s global rankings. Fans have flooded the internet with art, covers, cosplay and choreography in response to the movie, which follows the fictional K-pop<\/a> girl group HUNTR\/X as they fight demons.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the film that\u2019s a summer hit. The \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d soundtrack has topped the charts \u2014 debuting at No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Soundtracks chart and No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d became the year\u2019s surprising success story.<\/p>\n

Musical tradition \u2014 and K-pop \u2014 are honored<\/p>\n

The \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d soundtrack utilizes some of the best and brightest in the genre. That included a partnership with K-pop company The Black Label, co-founded by super producer Teddy Park, known for his work with YG, Blackpink<\/a> and 2NE1 \u2014 empowered girl groups used as references for the film\u2019s protagonists, the trio HUNTR\/X.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the many reasons the musical film\u2019s soundtrack stands on its own. Filmmakers \u201creally did their homework,\u201d says Jeff Benjamin, a music journalist who specializes in K-pop.<\/p>\n

Indeed, they did a lot of research. One of the film\u2019s directors, Maggie Kang, said that her team prioritized \u201crepresenting the fandom and the idols in a very specific way,\u201d as to not disappoint K-pop fans. <\/p>\n

They pulled from a treasure trove of influences heard at every corner: The fictional, rival boy band Saja Boys\u2019 hit song \u201cSoda Pop,\u201d for example, references the \u201990s K-pop group H.O.T. <\/p>\n

And it has worked. \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d is the highest charting soundtrack of 2025, with eight of its songs landing on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200. To put that in perspective: Lorde\u2019s \u201cVirgin\u201d<\/a> and Justin Bieber\u2019s \u201cSwag\u201d<\/a> did the same.<\/p>\n

In some ways, it recalls Disney\u2019s \u201cEncanto,\u201d<\/a> which topped the Billboard 200 and produced a No. 1 hit, \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk About Bruno<\/a> \u201d in 2022. Similarly, \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d embraces \u201cthe original soundtrack,<\/a> which is a lost art form,\u201d adds Benjamin.<\/p>\n

Tamar Herman, a music journalist and author of the \u201cNotes on K-pop\u201d newsletter, says the movie succeeds because it embraces animated musical tradition and authentic K-pop music production styles in equal measure. She considers \u201cKpop Demon Hunters\u201d to be \u201ca musical with songs inspired by K-pop,\u201d not unlike a Jukebox musical, where the songs of ABBA are reimagined for \u201cMamma Mia.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Audiences hunger for something new<\/p>\n

The novelty of the film, too, seems to be resonating. Where many animated films rely on adapting existing intellectual property, \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d is original. And it comes from an original perspective. \u201cIt\u2019s not completely Korean, it\u2019s not completely Western and it\u2019s kind of right in that middle,\u201d says Kang. \u201cIt\u2019s like not pulled from one side; it\u2019s kind of flavors of both. So, I think that\u2019s what makes the movie feels a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n

And \u201cthe core story is what\u2019s drawing everybody in,\u201d says Kang.<\/p>\n

San Francisco-based cosplayer and content creator Nanci Alc\u00e1ntar, who goes by Naanny Lee online agrees. \u201cIt\u2019s not only a K-pop group, but it also tells a story of their journey, of how they transform into powerful warriors,\u201d said Alc\u00e1ntar in Spanish. For her, it goes beyond K-pop \u2014 it\u2019s about the narrative.<\/p>\n

Kang\u2019s approach to cultural authenticity, too, may have contributed to the film\u2019s crossover appeal. Rather than explaining Korean elements like HUNTR\/X\u2019s visit to a traditional medicine clinic or translating K-pop light stick culture for Western audiences, she opted for full immersion. \u201cWe just wanted everybody to just accept that they were in Korea,\u201d Kang said.<\/p>\n

The director said this method of \u201cthrowing people into the deep end of a culture\u201d breaks down barriers better than heavy-handed explanation. \u201cWe just wanted to keep everything feeling normal,\u201d she explained. \u201cIf you don\u2019t shine a light on it, it just becomes more easily accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inventive animation connects<\/p>\n

Zabrinah Santiago, a San Diego-based longtime K-pop fan and freelance illustrator who goes by ItmeZ online, was so inspired by the animation style of the movie that she raced to make fan art. She sold illustrated fan cards of HUNTR\/X and Saja Boys at her booth at the Los Angeles Anime Expo, held in July, two weeks after the movie was released on Netflix.<\/p>\n

And she wasn\u2019t the only one. A search of #kpopdemonhunters on Instagram yields thousands of fan illustrations of HUNTR\/X and Saja Boys. <\/p>\n

Japan-based Youtuber Emily Sim, also known as Emirichu online, says the character designs and original plot drew her to the movie. Sim, with more than 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube, posted a 35-minute video about the movie. In a week-and-a-half, it garnered nearly 450,000 views.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love seeing all the fan art and just the ways that this movie has creatively inspired people,\u201d Sim said.<\/p>\n

Kang says for \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d her team wanted to bring together demons and Jeoseung Saja \u2014 the grim reaper in Korean mythology \u2014 for a film that could look both very traditional and modernized \u2014 what she says is common in K-dramas but not in animation.<\/p>\n

Herman compares the movie to another Sony animation: \u201cSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,\u201d<\/a> which also attracted a broad audience with its creative animation. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a fun, animated musical, which we haven\u2019t had in a while,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s campy, it\u2019s engaging, it\u2019s universal.\u201d<\/p>\n

And K-pop fans see themselves represented<\/p>\n

Santiago was initially skeptical of the title \u201cKPop Demon Hunters.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like with big companies they kind of like to use K-pop as a bait. They kind of like to take advantage of K-pop fans\u2019 sincerity,\u201d said Santiago. \u201cBut I felt like with this one, it was such like kind of a love letter to K-pop fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed \u2014 if the film wasn\u2019t authentic to K-pop fans\u2019 experience, or mocked them, it is unlikely to have become so popular, says Benjamin. Instead, there are Easter eggs for the dedicated K-pop listener. <\/p>\n

Herman agrees, and says that the film has in-jokes for K-pop fans, not unlike a children\u2019s movie that features some humor meant to appeal specifically to parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFiguring out what makes K-pop tick in a way that resonates with musical fans was really important to this movie,\u201d said Herman.<\/p>\n

For Kang, that was always at the heart of the project. \u201cFandom plays a huge part in the world being saved at the end of the movie,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, we were really confident that we were doing that justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Karena Phan reported from Los Angeles. Juwon Park reported from Seoul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 In the colorful, animated, musical world of \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d everyone is a fan.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[32625,37272,88,37273,3496,37270,3031,37274,206,216,17172,37275,37271],"class_list":["post-47628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation-and-comics","tag-emily-sim","tag-entertainment","tag-jeff-benjamin","tag-karena-phan","tag-lorde","tag-los-angeles","tag-maggie-kang","tag-movies","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-tamar-herman","tag-teddy-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}