Maggie Kang, the creator and co-director of Kpop Demon Hunters, has expressed enthusiasm for potential future narratives centered on the animated girl group Huntr/x.
In a recent interview with the BBC during a European tour, Kang noted that while specific plans remain undisclosed (“nothing official we can talk about”), she and co-director Chris Appelhans are confident that “there’s definitely more we can do with these characters in this world”.
She further stated, “And whatever it will be, it will be a story that deserves to be a sequel, and it will be something that we want to see,” hinting at the high bar they’ve set for any continuation of the story.
Kpop Demon Hunters has emerged as a significant cultural phenomenon this year, surpassing even Squid Game in viewership on Netflix with over 325 million views.
The animated feature follows a highly successful Kpop trio as they balance their demanding performance schedule with the responsibility of protecting the world from malevolent forces.
The narrative culminates in a showdown with a demonic boy band known as the Saja Boys.
The film has consistently broken records. Its sing-a-long version, released in cinemas this August, marked the first Netflix film to achieve the top spot at the US box office.
The soundtrack also dominated the US singles and albums charts, achieving a historic first by placing four songs simultaneously in the US top 10, a feat unmatched even by Saturday Night Fever.
Huntr/x’s anthem, “Golden,” has held the number one position for eight weeks, tying “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies for the longest reign by an animated act.
There is a growing consensus that Kpop Demon Hunters could be a strong contender at the upcoming Academy Awards.
The film has garnered critical acclaim, evidenced by its 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the review aggregation website.
The influential Gold Derby predictions website currently lists it as the frontrunner for Best Animated Feature, ahead of anticipated releases such as Zootopia 2 and Elio.
“The title alone is obviously Oscar bait,” quipped Chris Appelhans, Kang’s American co-director.
“We tried to do something new and it was really hard and I think we’re really proud of how it came out. But if people are going to reward that, that would be awesome.”
Another category where the film is expected to contend is Best Original Song, where regulations permit a maximum of three submissions per film.
Netflix has confirmed that the hit song “Golden” will be submitted for Academy consideration, raising questions about the remaining two slots.
“I think ‘Your Idol’ is such a banger,” said Kang, referring to the song performed by the Saja Boys as they siphon the souls of their audience for the overlord Gwi-Ma.
“We’re so proud of the song, but also the sequence. We cheered, we were so proud of it.”
Appelhans, however, advocates for Huntr/x’s “What it Sounds Like.”
“The finale was such a technical challenge, both in songwriting and storytelling,” he explained. “To make a song that was the climax of your movie, with a lot of moving parts, but was also an actual cathartic song.”
Kang concurred: “It’s the one song that every time I hear it, I just cry. It’s very emotional.”
“No room for ‘Soda Pop’?” I inquired, referencing the Saja Boys’ catchy tune.
“Maybe we could get four?” Kang replied with a laugh.
“We’ll just submit them all,” Appelhans added jokingly.
Appelhans recalled pinpointing the exact moment in June when he realized the film was resonating with audiences.
“It’s literally 2am the night after the film came out. I’m on TikTok and in the comments section they are perfectly articulating Rumi’s emotional journey.”
He expressed elation that fans were engaging with the film’s protagonist on a deep level.
Kang, who was born in South Korea and immigrated to Canada at the age of five, identified a slightly later point as the breakthrough moment. “We were able to connect with our core audience, which is the KPop audience and the animation fans and that demographic took to our film very quickly.
“But it was the third week when the trajectory of the graph of viewership really changed. We were like, ‘Woah. That was weird.’
“And we could see through our social media all the different pockets of demographic that were connecting to it.”
Kang attributes the film’s widespread success to its dedicated fanbase: “They are an age group that loves to make content. And it was kind of like free advertising. They were just spreading the word of this movie everywhere. I think that helped it develop these long legs.”
The film’s popularity continues to soar. Four months post-release, it remained the most-watched film in 19 countries last week, including the UK and the US.
The Kpop stars Rei Ami, Audrey Nuna, and EJAY, who provide the singing voices for Huntr/x, have performed on Saturday Night Live (in a skit with Bad Bunny) and delivered their first live performance of “Golden” on Jimmy Fallon’s US talk show.
“We were so bummed that we weren’t able to be there at Fallon,” Kang admitted in a rare display of disappointment.
“We were asleep in Paris. Just to see him speaking to our girls was so weird. It now feels more real than ever. I’m just so proud of them.
The directing duo also clarified that they do not consider their film to be classified as anime.
“I don’t think we are big enough anime fans to be that inspired from it,” Kang explained.
“The anime we like are very old school, like Cowboy Bebop and Sailor Moon,” referencing two Japanese TV shows which originated in the 90s.
Appelhans concurred: “I think it was a flavour. I think we were influenced by a lot of Korean film makers and k-dramas. It was part of a wide spectrum of tones that we wanted to hit, but not the dominant one.”
They were also quick to dismiss rumors of a live-action adaptation of Kpop Demon Hunters.
Kang firmly rejected the idea: “There’s so many elements of the tone and the comedy that are so suited for animation,” she said.
“It’s really hard to imagine these characters in a live action world. It would feel too grounded. So totally it wouldn’t work for me.”
Appelhans views it as a fundamentally flawed concept: “One of the great things about animation is that you make these composites of impossibly great attributes. Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then freefalling through the sky.
“The joy of animation is how far you can push and elevate what’s possible. I remember they adapted a lot of different animes and often times, it just feels a little stilted.”
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming awards season, Kang stated that the film’s success has already exceeded their expectations.
She summarized their aim as “to connect people and bring them to Kpop.”
“Just seeing people bond over this movie has been so wonderful,” she reflected.
“So all the awards would be great, but I think we feel really incredible about what the movie has done already. So it feels like we’ve kind of won in a way.”
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