It is an American animated musical fantasy film. Directed by Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans. Screenplay by them with the writing team of Danya Jimenez & Hannah Mc Mechan. It is based on a story conceived by Kang.
The film stars voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo seop, May Hong, Ji young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong & Lee Byung hun.
It follows a K-pop girl group, Huntr/x, who lead double lives as demon hunters. They face off against a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons.
Released on June 20, 2025.
Kang ‘s desire to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements from mythology, demonology & K pop craft a visually distinct & culturally rooted film. Kang has called the film her ‘love letter to K-pop & her ‘Korean roots’.
Kang explained that while developing the history of the demon hunters they decided to play into ‘the shaman women from Korean culture’ as historically these women would ‘sing & dance to protect their village & their communities’.
The three members of Huntr/x were modelled after K-pop girl groups like Itzy, Blackpink & Twice. The character of Mira was inspired by Korean model Ahn So yeon. The Saja boys were inspired by Korean boy bands as Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, Ateez. Korean actor & singer Cha Eun woo was a key influence for Jinu, the group leader.
Kang highlighted the visual journey in the character design as the Saga boys starting in a ‘bubble gum pop, very saccharine , super sweet look’ and shifting darker until they ‘look like the iconic Grim Reaper with hat’.
The film ‘s soundtrack album saw major success, reaching top ten on multiple music & streaming charts.
The BBC highlighted that Huntr/x & the Saja boys – with Golden & ‘Your Idol’resp. topped the US spotify char with Huntr/x hitting number 2on the chart, surpassing Blackpink as the highest charting female K-pop group’ and the Saja boys becoming ‘the highest charting male K-pop group in US Spotify history’ surpassing BTS.
In South Korea, ‘Golden’ became the third song to achieve a 2025 perfect all -kill on the charts.
On July 29, Netflix announced that KPop Demon Hunters’ had become the platform’s ‘most watched original animated film of all time’.
Rotten Tomatoes said ‘a family entertainer with a terrific soundtrack to boot’. 96% reviews are favourable. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100.
Netflix is considering several potential follow up projects.
Right from the promos I was aware but not interested. Then, knowing about the well received sound tracks my curiosity was piqued. I sat down to watch it.
I found the film entertaining & full of energy. Keeping the interest it follows a story line strictly. Clash between the two groups is up for grabs.
Lovely.
Asian Entertainment 