“It could have gone totally off the rails and gotten weird in a bad way,” KPop Demon Hunters co-director Maggie Kang jokes to The Hollywood Reporter.
The animated feature has officially shot to the No. 4 spot on Netflix’s most popular English-language films list with 158.8M views, according to data released Tuesday. The project — which chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a girl group comprised of three members who just happen to also fight monsters from the underworld — has been a surprise hit for the streamer, and its soundtrack has spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.
Demon Hunters has done surprisingly well considering the fact it is original IP, something of a rarity in successful animation in recent years. Going into the film, Netflix execs say they knew they had an audience who would tune in, but the scope of Demon Hunter’s reach has grown far past that initial target demographic.
“We knew younger female audiences and K-pop [and] anime fans would love this film, but it’s been incredibly gratifying to see it embraced by an even broader audience and become a favorite film for both adults and kids,” Dan Lin, chairman of Netflix, film tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Adults are watching the movie with their friends or other family members, kids are watching with their friends and siblings.”
The film has inspired TikTok trends — real K-pop groups, like Zerobaseone, has recreated the film’s fictional boy group Saja Boys — along with a dedicated fanbase online. “It’s also so fun to see the KPDH music covers, cosplay, dance reels and fan art online, made by everyday fans all the way to BTS,” Lin says. BTS’ youngest member Jungkook even broke down in detail his thoughts on the movie for his fans on a livestream, leading the streamer’s social media page to change its bio to, “Jungkook watched KPop Demon Hunters.”
Kang worked on the project for seven years, even before her co-director Chris Appelhans got involved. Kang notes that during those seven years the film went through many different phases, which is process she admits could be grueling.
“It’s really hard to stay motivated, but you kind of have to be proactive really and push through and really prove yourself… prove to the studio that you can direct a movie,” she says. “I feel like at every stage we’ve had to do that.”
The film, which is rooted in Korean shamanism, really took shape when Kang and Appelhans started digging into the mythology. “It opened up the possibilities of being able to show old-time Korea and made it a lot more historic and really legitimized it more into the culture,” Kang says, adding that the culturally specific elements make it clear that the film isn’t just about K-pop. “This is very culturally Korean, on a deeper level.”
Lin says Netflix is always “looking for powerful new stories, refreshing new voices and daring new approaches” in their films. “KPDH is a perfect example of this approach,” he says, adding that he and Netflix’s head of animation, Hannah Minghella, are thrilled to be supporting Kang and Appelhans on this journey.
“Netflix allows our films to build their audience organically and over time,” says Lin. “As word of mouth spread and social media caught on, we saw viewing really take off and the movie became a cultural phenomenon — it’s one of the only animated films to grow its audiences in its fifth and six weeks of release.”
Kang and Appelhans say that the fact that Demon Hunters was original IP makes the project a bit more personal, but it wasn’t something they thought about until they started doing press for the film. “It needs to come from a personal place. There needs to be some artistic personal vision to it,” Appelhans says.
“I remember when I sat down with Maggie that what occurred to me as she was talking, what a cool idea. But also here’s this talented person who’s been working in the animation industry. She has collected things that mean something to her [and] that she wants to see in a film and it hasn’t happened yet,” he explains.
“She’s now [saying] I want to do it. I want to make a thing like this,” Appelhans continues, adding that his wife, an author, has always urged him to make his female characters more real. This is something Kang was championing — badass characters who also veg out on the couch without makeup on.
Kang and Appelhans say they and their crew never took themselves too seriously, something they think helped take this unique premise to the next level. “We joked through the entire production that this idea is completely wackadoo and kind of stupid. It’s very random,” Kang says. “I know that having put it together, and we all know it. Every time we talk about it, we’re like, this is such a dumb idea. This is so stupid, and it could go very weird.”
But Kang says the team embraced the outlandish nature of the project and aimed to prove that they weren’t just capitalizing off the popularity of K-pop. “I think we just all wanted to prove everybody wrong, but everybody that came on board just really believed in it,” she says. “We found the heart of the movie really quickly.”
Given the success of Demon Hunters, the suggestion of sequels or continuations have, of course, been top of mind for fans and creatives alike. Despite previous reports that a live-action version of the film is forthcoming, sources tell THR that Netflix has no plans for a live-action film at this time.
“I think it’s going to be part of our lives for a bit. I don’t see the fandom slowing down. We hit an all time high in viewership in week five, which is absolutely insane,” Kang says of the directors’ future with the project.
Lin notes that Netflix is proud of Demon Hunter’s success and “are excited to explore what could be the next adventure for Huntrix.”
Says Lin: “KPDH‘s success comes from its original, fresh story so if we do embark on a sequel, we would want to take our time to make sure that any future stories we tell with our favorite demon hunters retains the flair and uniqueness of the first film.”