When English teacher Edward Young II was first introduced to KPop Demon Hunters by his eleven-year-old niece, he immediately fell in love with the movie, from the animation style to the original soundtrack.
“My entire family told me that I needed to watch it,” Young said.“At first, I just put it on in the background, but it quickly sucked me in, and I was like, ‘This is the best thing ever. Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?’”
Young and his niece are just two of the 325 million viewers KPop Demon Hunters attracted. Released on June 20, the animated musical urban fantasy film was an instant success, breaking multiple music and movie records. According to Variety, the movie spent fifteen weeks on the Netflix top ten movies chart, with eight of those weeks spent in the number one position.
The film follows a three member 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. The girls use their singing powers to fend off the underworld of demons, attempting to seal the Honmoon, a magical net sealed by the souls of KPop listeners.
KPop Demon Hunters did not just set records with its cinematic prowess, but its music went viral as well. Its most popular track, “Golden,” took the number one spot for twelve consecutive weeks. The movie also became the first movie to have four songs simultaneously chart in the Top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. The film’s fame carried over to social media with 1.5 million posts on TikTok to the song “Soda Pop,” recreating and imitating the viral dance routine.
Young experienced the rapid spreading of the phenomenon for himself. After watching the movie, his niece wanted to know when they could watch it together and learn the dances.
English teacher Kristiane Stapleton has watched the movie multiple times with her children. Playing the soundtrack soon became a key part of her morning drives to school with her second-grade daughter.
“My daughter has learned all the lyrics, and she even has t-shirts, keychains and stickers on her water bottle.” Stapleton said. “I’m sure it’s going to be the top Halloween costume this year.”
Senior Kenzie Chu also observed the popularity of the movie when she was introduced to the movie while serving as a counselor at a Chinese youth camp.
“All the kids were obsessed with it,” Chu said. “They would dance to the songs, sing them all the time, and even when I got back home, all my cousins were also obsessed with it, so I watched it because of them.”
Although many believe that children are the target demographic due to the movie’s animation style, KPop Demon Hunters is also popular among teenagers and adults.
“I know kids as young as four who are obsessed with this movie, and I also know full-grown adults who are obsessed with this movie,” Stapleton said. “Part of that is because it doesn’t talk down to children. It trusts that they will figure it out.”
Many viewers, like Stapleton, saw that besides appealing to a wide range of ages, the movie also introduces strong themes of empowerment and identity.
“I really love the character arc of Rumi, who is the protagonist of the film” Young said. “From someone feeling they have to be perfect to realizing that embracing who they are makes them stronger.”
Despite all the positive reactions to KPop Demon Hunters, recent artificial intelligence rumors have been circulating among netizens, claiming that the movie’s hit songs were generated by computers.
“I really don’t buy that rumor. The feel of the songs is so perfectly suited, and it would surprise me if they were generated by AI,” Stapleton said.
Even with speculations of using AI, fans were excited to hear the confirmation of a sequel for the movie.
“I’m always kind of nervous about sequels, but I would definitely watch it. It does feel a little bit like lightning in a bottle, and I don’t want them to ruin that,” Young states.
With the success of the movie, fans joke that HUNTR/X really sealed the Honmoon.
