Worldwide Netflix success: “KPOP Demon Hunters”: The pop culture surprise of the year

The American musical fantasy film “KPOP Demon Hunters” has become the most popular animated film in the history of the Netflix streaming service within a few weeks.

Now the film with the names, which is absurd for laypersons, rose into the top 4 most successful Netflix films as a whole. Since the publication on June 20, the film (until Sunday, August 3rd) has been a 158.8 million calls.

If the film continues, it could have become the most successful Netflix film in a few weeks.

The songs from the film broke the wall of the streaming world, are crossover hits and globally conquer the charts. The fictional band Huntrix from the film has dozens of millions of listeners every month on Spotify.

The hype for the film promoted the soundtrack in July to one place on the German album charts – as the first soundtrack since “Fifty Shades of Gray – liberated lust” from 2018.

Huntrix’s song “Golden” is a smash hit in the film – and also in reality. He conquered first place in the global billboard charts. In Germany he reached second place on the single charts several times.

In the British charts, “Golden” became the first K-Pop number one hit since “Gangnam Style” by the South Korean rapper Psy in 2012.

The secret of the soundtrack should be its tonal diversity. A team of songwriting and production experts formed the film music into a collection of catchy tunes with typical K-pop elements.

Pop stars run double life as demon hunters

From the rapid group single to the soulful ballad to the rousing rap track, there is almost everything. Some hymns drive history forward and are independent hits at the same time.

The plot: It’s about the K-Pop Girlgroup Huntrix, consisting of Mira, Rumi and Zoey, who lead a double life as demon hunters. The trio suddenly gets competition from the boy band Saja Boys.

Their members are beautiful, but secretly demons, which Huntrix destroy once and for all and should bring the souls of the people to the upper demon Gwi-Ma as a feast.

All sorts of fantasy elements tell a captivating story of the three friends, embedded in the exciting world of superstars, filling the huge stadiums.

The young generation will be picked up during your leisure behavior (such as visiting mega concerts), but also with your desire for retreat, calm, couch or spa visit. Food trends also play a role: the Huntrix girls eat enthusiastically Ramen and Kimbap.

The demons from the film could be interpreted as a topic of mental health – as a handling of ADHD, even depression (as an inner voice of “you are not (good) enough”). Or you can even interpret it politically when you put the inner demons as seductive ideology.

Of course, the film can be accused of jumping up to the hype about Korean pop that has been picking up speed for years. K-POP fans probably don’t miss it if their favorite genre is celebrated in an animated film. This is how money can be made.

Whoever watches the film will probably love the blue tiger

Jokes are of course subjective, but everyone can find their moments here. The loving animation (anime heart eyes, absurd facial turning) is amusing.

There are gags about a coveted washboard belly and absurd elements such as a bird with hat and a clumsy tiger (a magical blue demon cat).

The film comes from the animation studio Sony, which has changed in recent years. Gone are the times of “Angry Birds – The Film” (2016) or “Emoji – The Film” (2017).

Most recently there was already groundbreakingly well-animated works from the house, including “The Mitchells against the Machines” (2021) and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (2023).

The characters of the film are based on real stars

The head behind “KPOP Demon Hunters” is the Korean-Canadian filmmaker Maggie Kang, who used to be involved in the cracker “Die Wäter des Licht” (Dreamworks Animation, 2012).

She wrote the story and is a co-director. She told the business magazine “Forbes” that the three women of the band Huntrix were designed based on the model of K-pop girl groups such as Itzy, Blackpink and Twice. The character of Mira is inspired by the Korean model Ahn so-yeon.

“At Zoey, it is striking that she has a heart -shaped mouth when smiling. Mira should be big and slim because I love this look in women,” said Kang. “At Rumi we chose a very classic Korean look.”

The Saja Boys were inspired by boy bands such as BTS, Tomorrow X, Stray Kids, ATeez or Bigbang. Here is played even stronger with the K-pop archetypes (the leader, the visual, the rapper, the Maknae (the youngest member)).

The success is of course exploited

At Netflix, according to the US media industry portal “The Wrap”, discussions about pretty much everything that can be got out of the surprise hit are to take place.

The “Frozen” universe (“The Ice Queen”)) is probably oriented towards Disney’s “Frozen” universe. Consequently, there would be sequels, perhaps also a series, a live action remake or a stage musical in the coming years.