Netflix’s gargantuan hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters” has captured the worldwide zeitgeist this summer season, smashing streaming and music chart data. Now it’s coming for film theaters.
An animated musical a couple of trio of Korean pop starlets who struggle demons with infectious songs and synchronized dance strikes, “Demon Hunters” has been watched 210 million occasions and presently has 5 of the worldwide high 10 songs on Spotify.
In an unlikely journey, the streaming mega-hit is tipped by analysts to hit primary on the field workplace this weekend, with 1000’s of cosplaying followers headed to sold-out “singalong screenings” in theaters throughout 5 nations.
“Insane, crazy, surreal,” singer EJAE, who co-wrote the movie’s largest observe “Golden” and performs heroine Rumi’s songs, instructed an advance screening at Netflix’s Hollywood headquarters this week.
“I’m just really grateful I’m able to be part of this crazy cultural phenomenon.”
For the uninitiated, the movie’s premise is weird but easy.
Demons who feed on human souls have been trapped in one other realm by the highly effective voices of lady group HUNTR/X.
To struggle again, the demons secretly ship their very own devilishly good-looking boy band to steal HUNTR/X’s followers and feast on their essences.
Rivalries ensue, loyalties fray, and an unlikely romance evolves over 90 minutes of energy ballads and pop earworms, all in opposition to anime-style backdrops of Seoul’s fashionable skyline and conventional bathhouses and thatched hanok properties.
Released in June, “KPop Demon Hunters” is already Netflix’s most-watched animated providing, and sits second on the all-time chart for any authentic movie. It is prone to take the highest spot throughout the week.
“This movie is a triple threat. It’s got fantastic writing. It has got stunning animation. And the songs are bangers,” mentioned Wendy Lee Szany, a Los Angeles-based film critic and KPop devotee.
Indeed, songs by the film’s fictional HUNTR/X and boy-band rivals Saja Boys occupy three of the Billboard high 10 — a feat no film soundtrack has achieved for the reason that Nineties.
While combining the worldwide KPop craze with attractive supernatural monsters may sound like an apparent recipe for Netflix’s much-vaunted algorithm, no person anticipated “Demon Hunters” to take off on this scale.
It was made by Hollywood studio Sony Pictures, supposed for the massive display, however offered to Netflix throughout the pandemic when many theaters had been shuttered.
That could have labored to the movie’s benefit, mentioned John Nguyen, founder of popular culture web site Nerd Reactor.
“If Sony had released it in theaters, I don’t think it would have been as big,” he mentioned.
“It’s word-of-mouth. People shared it, talked about it, posted videos on social media of fans and families singing along in their living rooms.”
Endless homespun TikTookay dance movies have added to the momentum.
“People who haven’t seen the movie yet are seeing these memes, they can’t escape it, so they just end up like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna sit down this weekend (and watch) on Netflix,” mentioned Szany. “And then they fall in love with it.”
Seeking to capitalize, Netflix — often averse to film theaters — is internet hosting “singalongs” at 1,700 North American cinemas this weekend.
Fans are invited to decorate up, whip their telephones out and movie themselves singing at their high of their voices.
The method has cinema traditionalists despairing, however earned Taylor Swift’s live performance film $260 million on the field workplace in 2023.
Early estimates recommend “KPop Demon Hunters” may make $15 million in home theaters and high this weekend’s field workplace.
Analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research mentioned that determine appeared “reasonable… for now,” however may get “shattered” if a rush of demand causes theater house owners so as to add additional screenings.
That can be a welcome shot within the arm for film theaters, after the awful years of COVID-19, Hollywood strikes, and youthful audiences migrating to — paradoxically — streaming.
“There were literally so many kids singing their hearts out,” mentioned Szany, who attended Netflix’s advance singalong, and has watched the movie no less than eight occasions. “I was like, wow, they know all the lyrics better than I do.”
© 2025 AFP