How Kpop Demon Hunters became a stealth smash hit for Netflix
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The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
The surprise Netflix hit of the summer is about a K-pop girl group fighting demons
TV show "KPop Demon Hunters," the vibrant animated musical from Sony Pictures and Netflix, has rapidly become a global phenomenon, mirroring the intense fandom it portrays on screen. The film depicts a world where the general public are fervent K-pop fans, complete with light sticks, stadium cheers, and dedicated merchandise purchases. Unsurprisingly, this Sony Pictures/Netflix production has inspired similar fanfare in the real world, quickly topping the streamer's global rankings. Its unique premise, following the fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X as they battle demons, has resonated with audiences, leading to an online outpouring of fan art, song covers, cosplay, and intricate choreography. The film's success extends beyond the screen; its accompanying soundtrack has also soared up the charts. It debuted at number one on Billboard 's Soundtracks chart and secured the eighth spot on the all-genre Billboard 200, solidifying its status as a significant summer hit. Here's how 'KPop Demon Hunters' became the year's surprising success story: The 'KPop Demon Hunters' soundtrack utilizes some of the best and brightest in the genre. That included a partnership with K-pop company The Black Label, co-founded by super producer Teddy Park, known for his work with YG, Blackpink and 2NE1 — empowered girl groups used as references for the film's protagonists, the trio HUNTR/X. It's one of the many reasons the musical film's soundtrack stands on its own. Filmmakers 'really did their homework,' says Jeff Benjamin, a music journalist who specializes in K-pop. Indeed, they did a lot of research. One of the film's directors, Maggie Kang, said that her team prioritized 'representing the fandom and the idols in a very specific way,' as to not disappoint K-pop fans. They pulled from a treasure trove of influences heard at every corner: The fictional, rival boy band Saja Boys' hit song 'Soda Pop,' for example, references the '90s K-pop group H.O.T. And it has worked. 'KPop Demon Hunters' is the highest charting soundtrack of 2025, with eight of its songs landing on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200. To put that in perspective: Lorde 's ' Virgin ' and Justin Bieber's 'Swag' did the same. In some ways, it recalls Disney's 'Encanto,' which topped the Billboard 200 and produced a No. 1 hit, 'We Don't Talk About Bruno ' in 2022. Similarly, 'KPop Demon Hunters' embraces 'the original soundtrack, which is a lost art form,' adds Benjamin. Tamar Herman, a music journalist and author of the 'Notes on K-pop' newsletter, says the movie succeeds because it embraces animated musical tradition and authentic K-pop music production styles in equal measure. She considers 'Kpop Demon Hunters' to be 'a musical with songs inspired by K-pop,' not unlike a Jukebox musical, where the songs of ABBA are reimagined for 'Mamma Mia.' The novelty of the film, too, seems to be resonating. Where many animated films rely on adapting existing intellectual property, 'KPop Demon Hunters' is original. And it comes from an original perspective. 'It's not completely Korean, it's not completely Western and it's kind of right in that middle,' says Kang. 'It's like not pulled from one side; it's kind of flavors of both. So, I think that's what makes the movie feels a little different.' And 'the core story is what's drawing everybody in,' says Kang. San Francisco-based cosplayer and content creator Nanci Alcántar, who goes by Naanny Lee online agrees. 'It's not only a K-pop group, but it also tells a story of their journey, of how they transform into powerful warriors,' said Alcántar in Spanish. For her, it goes beyond K-pop — it's about the narrative. Kang's approach to cultural authenticity, too, may have contributed to the film's crossover appeal. Rather than explaining Korean elements like HUNTR/X's visit to a traditional medicine clinic or translating K-pop light stick culture for Western audiences, she opted for full immersion. 'We just wanted everybody to just accept that they were in Korea,' Kang said. The director said this method of 'throwing people into the deep end of a culture' breaks down barriers better than heavy-handed explanation. 'We just wanted to keep everything feeling normal,' she explained. 'If you don't shine a light on it, it just becomes more easily accepted.' Zabrinah Santiago, a San Diego-based longtime K-pop fan and freelance illustrator who goes by ItmeZ online, was so inspired by the animation style of the movie that she raced to make fan art. She sold illustrated fan cards of HUNTR/X and Saja Boys at her booth at the Los Angeles Anime Expo, held in July, two weeks after the movie was released on Netflix. And she wasn't the only one. A search of #kpopdemonhunters on Instagram yields thousands of fan illustrations of HUNTR/X and Saja Boys. Japan-based Youtuber Emily Sim, also known as Emirichu online, says the character designs and original plot drew her to the movie. Sim, with more than 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube, posted a 35-minute video about the movie. In a week-and-a-half, it garnered nearly 450,000 views. 'I love seeing all the fan art and just the ways that this movie has creatively inspired people,' Sim said. Kang says for 'KPop Demon Hunters,' her team wanted to bring together demons and Jeoseung Saja — the grim reaper in Korean mythology — for a film that could look both very traditional and modernized — what she says is common in K-dramas but not in animation. Herman compares the movie to another Sony animation: 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,' which also attracted a broad audience with its creative animation. 'And it's a fun, animated musical, which we haven't had in a while,' she says. 'It's campy, it's engaging, it's universal.' Santiago was initially skeptical of the title 'KPop Demon Hunters.' 'I feel like with big companies they kind of like to use K-pop as a bait. They kind of like to take advantage of K-pop fans' sincerity,' said Santiago. 'But I felt like with this one, it was such like kind of a love letter to K-pop fans.' Indeed — if the film wasn't authentic to K-pop fans' experience, or mocked them, it is unlikely to have become so popular, says Benjamin. Instead, there are Easter eggs for the dedicated K-pop listener. Herman agrees, and says that the film has in-jokes for K-pop fans, not unlike a children's movie that features some humor meant to appeal specifically to parents. 'Figuring out what makes K-pop tick in a way that resonates with musical fans was really important to this movie,' said Herman. For Kang, that was always at the heart of the project. 'Fandom plays a huge part in the world being saved at the end of the movie,' she said. 'So, we were really confident that we were doing that justice.'
Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Sonic fans just realising why iconic hedgehog is blue ahead of fourth film
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most popular characters in video game history, and he'll soon be starring in his fourth film - but do you know why the character is blue? Sonic the Hedgehog fans have only just realised why the iconic video game character is blue - and it turns out there's even a reason for the colour within the franchise's lore. Sonic is one of the most popular video game characters of all time, and he's been featured in over 100 gaming titles since his first appearance in 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. In 2020, Sonic became the subject of his own live-action film, which has since spawned two further films, with a fourth on the way in 2027. With interest in the super-fast mammal still rising, fans are now starting to ask one very pertinent question - why on earth is he blue? The real-world reason for Sonic's striking blue coat is simple. Sega created him in 1991 as a mascot that was supposed to rival the success Nintendo was having at the time with their mascot, Mario. As Mario is predominantly red, Sonic was made blue as a direct contrast, as well as blue being the primary colour in the Sega logo. As for Sonic's red shoes, they were actually inspired by both Santa Claus and Michael Jackson, with the design team particularly taking inspiration from the latter's 1987 album, Bad. A TikTok video from Byte Sized Science explained: "Sega made Sonic to rival Mario, and they needed a bold mascot. Blue matched Sega's logo colour, and the red shoes were inspired by Michael Jackson's Bad cover. Even his attitude was designed to feel edgy and Western, unlike Mario." But Sonic's blue colour isn't just something that can be explained away by good marketing strategies. The character actually has an in-game reason for his blue hue, and it's all to do with his arch-nemesis in the games, Doctor Robotnik. In a Sonic comic it was revealed that Sonic was originally a regular hedgehog with natural brown fur. Everything changed when he stumbled into the laboratory of a scientist named Ovi Kintobor, who was looking for the seven Chaos Emeralds so that he could lock the world's evil away inside them. Sonic decided to help him by using his superspeed to find the last Emerald. The scientist was so fascinated by his skills that he began running tests on the hedgehog. But when Sonic ran so fast that he broke the sound barrier, the sonic boom destroyed the testing gear and turned Sonic blue in the process. The hedgehog stuck around with Kintobor after the incident, but later, another accident occurred in which the scientist fell into his evil collecting machine while holding an egg. The evil stored in the Chaos Emeralds was transferred into Kintobor and the egg, fusing them into the evil Doctor Ivo Robotnik - the Eggman. The Blue Blur will star in his fourth film in 2027, where Ben Schwartz is expected to reprise his role as the voice of the titular hedgehog. Jim Carey has played Dr Robotnik in the past three instalments, but it is not yet known if he will return for the upcoming fourth flick. It's also believed that Sonic's love interest, Amy Rose, could make her debut in Sonic 4, but no actress has been confirmed to be voicing her as of the time of writing. According to IMDb, however, both Lady Gaga and Scarlett Johansson have been considered for the role. For Sonic fans who can't wait for the new film, a new Sonic racing game titled Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, is scheduled to be released on September 25th this year for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 release is planned for a later date. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is expected to be released on March 19, 2027.
New Statesman
16 hours ago
- New Statesman
Donald Trump, the king of Scotland
Illustration by André Carrilho The world is not exactly lacking conspiracy theories about Donald Trump, but here's another: the President of the United States of America still thinks he's on a reality show. For years, the people around him have simply referred to the whole business – the elections, the criminal trials, the assassination attempt, the Epstein subplot, the presidency itself – as The Show. As far as he's concerned, this is all for the cameras. Summits and speeches are talked about as shoots and episodes; other world leaders are referred to as characters. Before a meeting or a press conference, aides will brief him on his script for the scene. Hundreds of people spend their time reassuring a nearly 80-year-old man in charge of 5,244 nuclear warheads that he and everyone he meets are just characters in a loosely scripted series. The problem with this theory is that it's obviously true. Donald Trump has been closely involved with the fake rivalries and mock combat of WrestleMania since the late 1980s. In 2004 he was hired by the British reality TV producer Mark Burnett as a pantomime businessman on The Apprentice. Burnett remains Trump's friend, adviser and his special envoy to the United Kingdom. Trump's meetings with world leaders at the White House this year have had the unmistakable confected drama of semi-scripted reality television, in which characters enter into staged confrontations over their interior design choices, or who's dating whom, or (in this series) the fate of Western democracy. Trump himself openly acknowledged this when he wrapped one of these scenes – his hour-long harangue of Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in February – by announcing: 'I think we've seen enough. This is going to be great television.' The arrival of the Trump show in Scotland allowed its star to try out some new material. 'Trump takes time out to open Scottish golf course,' the BBC reported, but this was backwards. He took time out from his real job of promoting his own businesses to travel not exactly to Scotland, but to the bits of it he owns (hotels and golf courses) to play golf and do a little diplomacy. This was international relations as practised by Henry VIII, who in 1520 travelled not exactly to France, but to the bit of it that he owned (Calais) for some sport and a little diplomacy. The décor for that summit included fountains that flowed with wine and a pair of live monkeys that had somehow been covered with gold leaf. Trump was pleased with the new ballroom in his hotel; he devoted almost as much time to it in his press conferences with Ursula von der Leyen and Keir Starmer as he did to the trade deals he'd agreed with both leaders. At other moments he gestured to his golf course outside. 'Even though I own it,' he observed, 'it's probably the best course in the world.' Footage emerged of Trump, who claims to be an expert golfer, and whose best scores are always recorded at clubs he owns, arriving near a bunker in a buggy. A few metres ahead of him, a caddy could be seen discreetly dropping a ball on to the course for him to play, rather than the ball he'd hit into the sand or the long grass. Who cares? It's not cheating, because it's not real. Also on display was Trump's capacity for comic timing. When he met the Starmers on the steps of his golf resort, Turnberry, there was a moment in which they were all supposed to stand while a bagpiper played. Any other politician would have waited for the music to end. Trump, with his gift for farce, began taking questions immediately. The journalists had to yell over the blaring, dissonant noise of music being squeezed out of a leather sack. Victoria Starmer's mouth was set into such a perfectly flat line that her expression could have been used to calibrate a spirit level. Trump's mockery of Starmer was delightful to watch. The Prime Minister, he observed, is: 'Slightly liberal. Not that liberal. Slightly.' He grouped Starmer together with his friend, Nigel Farage: 'They're both good men.' When it did not seem the PM could wince any harder, Trump declared: 'I respect him much more today than I did before, because I just met his wife… and family', he added, just a little more quietly. 'He's got a perfect wife. And family.' He declared his love for Scotland, the land of his mother, especially those parts of it which he has had bulldozed for golf courses and hotels. The natural beauty of Scotland is augmented by golf courses and hotels, but ruined by wind turbines (which he calls 'windmills', which is funnier, and which he opposes because he thinks they ruin the view from the 18th hole of one of his golf courses). Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe 'Wind is the most expensive form of energy,' he declared (it's actually the cheapest form of electricity), 'and it destroys the beauty of your fields and your plains and your fields and your waterways… If you shoot a bald eagle, in the United States, they put you in jail for five years. And yet windmills knock down hundreds of them.' The monstrous eagle-mashers are also bad for the mental health of whales. 'It's driving them loco. It's driving them crazy.' There is nothing in which Trump cannot immediately be an expert, because this is a TV show and no one knows anything anyway. He was asked about the UK's problem with illegal immigration in small boats: 'I know nothing about the boats,' he declared, but he knew who was on them: 'They'll be murderers, they'll be drug dealers.' He claimed to have stopped six wars. 'I'm averaging about a war a month.' India and Pakistan were now at peace, thanks to him. He had put an end to the Congo-Rwanda conflict: 'They've been fighting for 500 years… but we solved that war.' Before Trump brought peace to the land, the situation was just: 'Machetes. Machetes all over the place.' He said hostages who were taken by Hamas during the 7 October massacre have since been to see him in the Oval Office. This is what he asked them: 'When you were a hostage, and you have all of these people from Hamas around you… did they ever wink at you and say, like, 'Don't worry, you're going to be OK?'' He cited the more noble situations he has seen in 'the movies' – 'you even see it with Germany, where people would be let into a house, and live in an attic in secret' – as if they were real, because for him they are. When someone lives in reality TV, rather than reality itself, they see no line between what can be material and what should not be. And so Trump continued his comic pace even when talking about 'what they used to call the Gaza Strip. You don't hear that line too much any more.' He spoke about the $60m in aid the US has sent as if it were generous (his government spends that in less than five minutes) and opined: 'You really, at least want to have somebody say thank you'. Asked if he believed the people of Gaza were starving, he replied: 'I don't know. I mean, based on television I would say, not particularly, because – those children look very hungry, but we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food.' Later he would try to appear more concerned: 'Some of those kids are… that's real starvation stuff. I see it. And you can't fake that.' It is truly grim is to see leaders who live in the real world nodding along, powerless or unwilling to describe the situation in Gaza as anything other than, as Starmer put it in response, 'a humanitarian crisis… an absolute catastrophe', as if the bloodshed and mass starvation were the result of a natural disaster rather than the deliberate actions of soldiers and the Israeli cabinet. It reveals who has the power to make jokes about anything, and who is the butt of them. And that is the point at which the Trump show stops being funny. [See more: A Trump-shaped elephant] Related
