KPop Demon Hunters
Updated: 5/26/2026, 2:56:42 PM Wikipedia source
KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 American animated musical urban fantasy film co-written and directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. It was produced by Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix and stars the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Lee Byung-hun. The story follows a K-pop girl group, Huntrix, who lead double lives as demon hunters. They face off against a rival boy band, the Saja Boys, whose members are secretly demons. KPop Demon Hunters originated from Kang's desire to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements of mythology, demonology, and K-pop to craft a visually distinct and culturally rooted film. Production had begun by March 2021. The look of the film was influenced by concert lighting, editorial photography, music videos, and anime and Korean dramas. The soundtrack includes original songs by several musicians and a score by Marcelo Zarvos. KPop Demon Hunters began streaming on Netflix on June 20, 2025, and by year's end became the most-watched original title in Netflix history with over 500 million views. A sing-along version had limited theatrical releases on August 23–24 and October 31–November 2. Its theatrical release was the widest by number of theaters for a Netflix film, and the first to top the box office in the United States. The soundtrack was the first film soundtrack to have four songs in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and was certified double platinum in the US in October 2025. KPop Demon Hunters received acclaim for its animation, visual style, voice acting, story, and music. The recipient of many accolades, it won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song ("Golden") at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 98th Academy Awards, and won multiple awards at the 53rd Annie Awards. A sequel is in development.
Infobox
Tables
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 77/100 |
| Rotten Tomatoes | 91% |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Empire | |
| The Times | |
| The Arizona Republic | |
| RogerEbert | |
| Collider | 8/10 |
| IGN | 8/10 |
| IndieWire | B |
References
- Pronounced /ˈhʌntrɪks/ HUN-triks and stylized in all caps as "HUNTR/X".
- Korean: 혼문; Hanja: 魂門; lit. 'spirit gate'
- Also referred to as Abs Saja.
- The most recent animated film to do so up until that point was Despicable Me 4 (2024).
- Tudumhttps://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/kpop-demon-hunters-release-date-cast-news
- TV Guidehttps://www.tvguide.com/movies/kpop-demon-hunters/cast/2060189166
- Sony Pictures Animationhttps://www.sonypicturesanimation.com/our-team/artists/nathan-schauf
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2021/film/news/k-pop-demon-hunters-girl-group-animated-movie-sony-1234924941/
- KPop Demon Huntershttps://www.fandango.com/kpop-demon-hunters-2025-241022/movie-overview
- Puckhttps://puck.news/why-did-kpop-demon-hunters-go-straight-to-streaming/
- KPop Demon Huntershttps://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt14205554/
- The Numbershttps://www.the-numbers.com/movie/KPop-Demon-Hunters-(2025)
- KPop Demon Huntershttps://biz.chosun.com/culture/culture_general/2025/07/06/7RI6PBGKHJDXHFDUY6TN5P6DUY/
- The Express Tribunehttps://tribune.com.pk/story/2567338/new-kpop-demon-hunters-film-reportedly-rated-and-ready-for-release
- The Seattle Timeshttps://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/why-kpop-demon-hunters-is-the-pop-culture-event-of-the-summer/
- The Washington Posthttps://web.archive.org/web/20250814155114/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/08/13/kpop-demon-hunters-golden-billboard-one/
- KPop Demon Huntershttps://www.prestigeonline.com/hk/lifestyle/culture-plus-entertainment/meet-the-cast-of-kpop-demon-hunters-voice-actors-and-singers/
- Foreign Policyhttps://foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/19/kpop-demon-hunters-netflix-south-korea-culture-music/
- iNews24https://www.inews24.com/view/1896197
- The Korea Timeshttps://www.koreatimes.co.kr/entertainment/20250623/kpop-demon-hunters-takes-world-by-storm-combining-k-pop-energy-with-korean-heritage