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New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘KPop Demon Hunters' Took 7 Years to Make but a Lifetime of Experience
Ever since its release on Netflix last month, the original animated film 'KPop Demon Hunters' has burned up the internet — and the charts. The musical fantasy has topped the streamer's global rankings and inspired countless memes, dance challenges (some even by K-pop stars), themed merchandise and fan art. The film's equally blockbuster soundtrack has stormed the music charts, with eight of its songs landing in the Billboard Hot 100. 'KPop Demon Hunters' follows the members of a fictional K-pop girl group as they juggle demanding careers and fight to save the world from soul-stealing demons. The film's directors, Maggie Kang (a veteran storyboard artist on films like 'Rise of the Guardians' and 'Puss in Boots' ) and Chris Appelhans (who directed 'Wish Dragon'), spoke about the making of their movie and its unexpected rise as a global cultural phenomenon. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation. Maggie, the story behind 'KPop Demon Hunters' was your idea. What convinced you that a film that combines disparate elements like K-pop, animation, traditional Korean art and mythology, and demons could resonate with so many different audiences? MAGGIE KANG Well, nothing did. [Laughs] I was basically just trying to make something that I wanted to see: a movie that celebrated Korean culture. And for some reason, I landed on demonology. I thought the jeoseung saja [grim reapers in Korean mythology] — which is what the boys are at the end of the movie with the black hats and the black robes — was such an iconic image from my childhood that I was very scared of, so I knew that I wanted to feature that. And the thought of demons naturally led to demon hunters. I wanted to see female superheroes that were a lot more relatable, who like to eat and make silly faces. We weren't trying to make them just pretty, sexy and cool. They had very real insecurities and showed that. Demon hunting is usually done very secretly, so these girls needed a public-facing persona. I was also really wanting to do something K-pop-related. It was like, let's just see if these two things can go together. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Geek Tyrant
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Review: KPOP DEMON HUNTERS Suprised Me With it's Cool Animation Style and Wild Story — GeekTyrant
I'll be honest, I jumped into watching KPop Demon Hunters knowing absolutely nothing. I don't follow K-pop, I hadn't seen a trailer, and I only hit play because my daughter wanted to watch it with me. But, a few minutes in, I realized I wasn't just tolerating it, I was totally on board. This is one of those unexpected gems that sneaks up on you and ends up leaving a big grin on your face. It's stylish, funny, emotionally sharp, and packed with monster-fighting mayhem, all while tapping into the high-energy gloss of the K-pop world. The story follows Huntrix, a global girl group with a secret side hustle… demon hunting. Rumi, Mira, and Zoey split their time between performing for fans as shows and supernatural takedowns, and when a rival boy band turns out to be demons in disguise, things really kick off. The tone strikes a tricky balance between fantasy, action, with some emotional weight and humor, and it actually works. There's a surprising depth here, especially in how the movie explores identity, pressure, and finding your place in a manufactured world. Visually, the film pops. The animation style is wild, cool, and fluid, with choreographed action sequences that are awesome! On top of that, there's the music that pulses through the storytelling. Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans clearly understand the appeal of both anime-inspired action and idol performance culture, and they merge the two in ways that feel fresh. The world-building is dense with myth and magic, and while not every detail clicks perfectly, there's enough creativity and momentum to keep you locked in. What really sells it, though, is the heart. I didn't expect to care this much about the characters, but I did. There's a storng character arc here, particularly for Rumi, that digs into self-worth and the fear of letting people down. Huntrix isn't just fighting demons, they're confronting guilt, shame, and the feeling of being trapped between who the world wants you to be and who you actually are. That's a lot for a movie that also features demon boy bands and glowing swords, but somehow, it pulls it off. There's also a layer of satire running through the whole thing. The film has fun poking at the overproduced world of pop culture. It uses humor to highlight how exhausting the performance of perfection can be. That message feels especially relevant to younger viewers, but it'll hit for older ones too. K-Pop Demon Hunters might not connect with every viewer the same way, especially if you're looking for something more grounded or serious. But if you're open to wild ideas and want to watch something that swings big and looks cool doing it, this is a great pick. It's kinetic, heartfelt, and just a whole lot of fun, whether you're a K-pop fan or, like me, just along for the ride.
Globe and Mail
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
Squid Game's final season has a twist that will make many turn off Netflix in disgust
Much ink has been squirted over the years about Squid Game, the pop-culture phenomenon now back with its final season and a truly twisted twist that will make many viewers turn off Netflix in disgust. Most of what's been written about Hwang Dong-hyuk's series about a secretive and deadly Korean reality show has focused on its impact on the television industry. Squid Game certainly proved that South Korea could lead internationally in television as well as film and music. It cemented the fact that in the streaming age, even American audiences will watch television with subtitles en masse – if there's enough creatively grisly death in it. The show's success, too, has been a great card for Netflix to play as it has pursued global domination. To all those who have seen its worldwide expansion as cultural imperialism – as former CBC/Radio-Canada president Catherine Tait famously did – the fact that a Korean dystopian thriller remains the American streaming service's most popular series of all time was a ready riposte. So, Squid Game is significant. But how good, really, is this show about a shadowy event where 456 Koreans in dire financial straits compete in killer children's games for a vast fortune (with the losers' deaths live-streamed as entertainment for ultra-rich VIP voyeurs)? The first season in 2021 was lauded for Lee Jung-jae's central performance as unlikely hero Seong Gi-hun, the now-iconic production design and what many deemed its sharp-edged satire of late-stage capitalism. 2025 summer TV preview: The Bear is back, plus a Giller adaptation and more Star Trek But when Squid Game returned for a second season late last year, Gi-hun's motivations for going back into the game were muddy – and the reasons why Hwang In-ho, the show-runner of the evil show-within-a-show, let him back in and sometimes abetted him in undermining it were even more unclear. Those who felt the show's satire was always a mite hypocritical had their opinions confirmed by a return that seemed to have as its main motivation making more money out of images of poor Korean characters being slaughtered. But that second season was essentially unfinished – Netflix made Dong-hyuk divide it in two – and it's only now that we see his complete vision. Picking up right after Gi-hun's failed rebellion against the operators of Squid Game, the third season immediately has a string of scenes that deliver excellent payoff for the relationships that were set up among the secondary characters in the second – especially between the squabbling mother and son competing together, and in the cohort of players who are all there after having fallen for a cryptocurrency scheme. It gets very Greek, to say the least. The main dramatic engine, however, involves Jun-hee (played by former reality-show participant and singer Jo Yu-ri), who was revealed to be playing while pregnant. I'll put a spoiler alert here – spoiler alert! – before revealing that Jun-hee does give birth, even though it was heavily foreshadowed. During what may be the most brutal competition ever played on Squid Game, contestants have to choose between their own safety and helping her. The genuine surprise is where the plot with the baby goes after that, however. Without getting into details, the choices are so absurd that they absolutely explode any sense of realism in the show. Some viewers are going to see this as the moment where Squid jumped the shark. But, for me, the extreme elements redeem Squid Game's status as a darkest-of-dark satire of our world. Before you write them off as exploitative, reflect on our own real-life consumption of images of children in mortal danger – and ask yourself whether people cheering on the deaths of babies is really that much of a stretch. One criticism that certainly can't be levelled against Squid Game is that it is another show about the 1 per cent. There are the VIPs, of course, whose faces we never see; their dialogue is as badly written and poorly acted as ever this final season – leading to the conclusion that this isn't about the English-language acting pool in Seoul so much as it is a choice not to humanize them in any way. It's certainly not copaganda either – not only is the police department useless, the renegade Jun-ho (portrayed by Wi Ha-joon) has the worst instincts of any TV detective ever. The memorable characters are the players who struggle to pay their family member's medical bills, the ones who struggle with addictions that have bankrupted them, and all the angry young men whose unsettled sense of masculinity made them easy marks. And, of course, that redeemed reprobate, Gi-hun; his fantasies of heroism and righteous revenge having crumbled, his character gets the concluding arc he deserves. It's only a shame that the whole enterprise ends with a cameo by an Academy Award-winning actor that seems to confirm rumours that an English-language spinoff is on the way. Does it weaken the themes of the show – or reinforce them – that the Squid Game carnage won't end as long as there's a market for it?
Forbes
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘KPop Demon Hunters' Director On Getting K-Pop Culture Down
KPOP DEMON HUNTERS - (L-R) Mira (voice by MAY HONG), Rumi (voice by ARDEN CHO) and Zoey (voice by ... More JI-YOUNG YOO). ©2025 Netflix South Korea has been dominating the global pop music scene for the past few years with groups like BTS, BLACKPINK, TWICE, and Stray Kids. There have been multiple projects surrounding K-pop music, including a Broadway musical, documentaries, and several film projects. One of the projects includes Netflix's K-Pop Demon Hunters, an animated feature centered on a K-pop girl group that also serves as a team of demon hunters sworn to protect their fans from supernatural threats. Things become complicated when a popular rival boy band is revealed to be demons. Director Maggie Kang didn't expect the impact of Korean culture and K-pop, which inspired her to write this film. When she was in elementary school in Canada, her teacher couldn't locate South Korea on the map. Now, her film is set to release on Netflix and has been praised by critics and fans. 'It was surreal,' Kang says. 'Every step of the way and every milestone we hit, I can't believe we're able to do this.' She had been working on this project for over nine years, aiming to create a story that explores Korean demon mythology and lore, starring badass women. The K-pop aspect was always present, but it was the last part that was developed in the story. They had initially planned for the animation to be a lower-budget movie that was a lot grittier and darker than the final product looked. 'Rumi was going to be the black sheep of her family,' Kang explains. 'It still had the themes of shame about their worth, but there was this girl who was kinda a dropout and failure, before discovering her lineage and living up to it, proving her own self-worth within herself. It was a story with ancestors and a little bit more Asian.' Kang was informed that the project had expanded significantly, which altered the story slightly, introducing two additional characters – Mira and Zoey. She found it funny that there were three members in Huntrix, but they created five characters for the Saja Boys. 'At first, Sony was like 'Can [Rumi] just be a solo artist?',' says Kang. 'I was like, no, she needs to be part of a group.' KPOP DEMON HUNTERS - When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use ... More their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise. ©2025 Netflix When creating a K-pop group, there's a lot to be included in the story, especially the fandom: terminology, lightsticks, photocards, shipping, fan signs, variety shows, comebacks, and more. The screenplay, written by Kang, co-director Chris Appelhans, Hannah McMechan, and Danya Jimenez (with assistance from K-pop fans and writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt), perfectly captured the fan culture. Kang says it was a group effort in creating this story and the culture surrounding it. She credits McMechan and Jimenez for their research on the K-pop culture aspect, and even became K-pop fans themselves. 'They became K-pop fans because of this movie,' Kang explains. 'As they were doing research, they became total stans of K-pop – to the point that they would be up at three in the morning to refresh to watch music videos and then vote on stuff.' She says they became her K-pop experts. Anytime she had a question, she would text them for the answer. She says, 'It felt like a second job to be updated on all the K-pop things. As production rolled through, Kang just ran out of time to learn about K-pop culture. So, she depended on them for the knowledge. KPOP DEMON HUNTERS - When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use ... More their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise. ©2025 Netflix The art department also had knowledgeable K-pop fans on staff who were involved in every part of the production. At one point, there was a scene where the idols competed against each other in the Idol Star Athletics Championships, also known as ISAC. 'For people who don't know: [ISAC] is like the Olympics for Korean idols,' says Kang. 'When we cut that scene in, all the executives were like, 'What is this? Why are they suddenly doing the Olympics and running hurdles and doing archery?' That eventually became a fan signing event. But, for a very long time, they had Rumi and Jinu doing archery, as they were having that conversation.' The animation team also played its part in highlighting the Korean idols' faces. Kang says they all drew inspiration from K-dramas and had Korean animators involved in the film. 'One of the animators, Sophia [(Seung Hee) Lee], was instrumental in figuring out certain eye shapes and mouth shapes – just rounding the corners of the mouth gave it this more Korean feeling. For some reason, it was just so strange. Once we figured that out, it opened up the movie, and we were like, 'This is it. This is our look'.' Lighting was challenging for the team, as they tried to find the perfect placement for the most appealing angles and lighting. Kang recalls it being quite a journey, as well as more difficult than they expected. 'The way we lit the faces was challenging because our faces just look different,' says Kang. 'Our models look different as well. It was a challenging and different undertaking for our lighters to figure out. So, it was interesting.' KPOP DEMON HUNTERS - When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use ... More their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise. ©2025 Netflix When it came to the K-pop music aspect, their team collaborated with THEBLACKLABEL, owned by the legendary producer Teddy Park, who has worked with K-pop's biggest names, including BIGBANG, G-DRAGON, BLACKPINK, and 2NE1. Adding to the K-pop connections, the film secured the popular K-pop girl group, TWICE, to sing the main title song, 'Takedown.' Kang and Appelhans were initially naive about how much of the music would be featured in the movie. They discussed it being a non-traditional musical, which meant that there wouldn't be a lot of singing involved in the storytelling. Things changed, and the music became an integral part of the story. 'Through the help of our executive music producer [Ian Eisendrath], who comes from a more musical background, we quickly realized some of the songs were taking up two minutes or so of screentime, they had to carry the story,' Kang says. 'It forced us to answer a lot of tricky story questions when finding the lyrics out.' They created these documents for the songwriters, detailing the scene and how the characters were feeling and why. The musicians and songwriters would then come up with music and lyrics that matched perfectly with the story, keeping it in the K-pop style. KPOP DEMON HUNTERS - When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use ... More their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise. ©2025 Netflix Although everything seemed to fit into the K-pop world, one thing was missing: a fandom name. Kang reveals the Saja Boys fans are called the Pride, but never came up with one for Huntrix. Kang says, 'We will leave it up to the fans.' KPop Demon Hunters premieres tomorrow, Friday, June 20, on Netflix.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
How have so many Australians ended up doing big things in K-pop?
With so many Australians doing big things in K-pop, a key question is why. How is it that Australia has produced so many homegrown K-pop stars? This is something Roald Maliangkay from the Australian National University has pondered. And yes, he is named after the late decorated British children's author Roald Dahl. Professor Maliangkay specialises in popular culture in East Asia and has researched the South Korean entertainment industry throughout the 20th century up to the present day. He's come up with a few reasons why Australia is fertile ground for producing K-pop stars. "I think one important reason is that a lot of the Korean Australians here speak Korean, maybe not well, but they are fairly recent migrants," Professor Maliangkay said. "It's usually their parents who migrate to Australia and that means that their parents will speak Korean at home. "I think that's one important reason so that makes it very likely for the trainees, which they are at first, to at least be familiar with the sounds so they can pick up Korean quite easily even if they didn't always speak Korean at home or outside in public. "So, I think the language aspect is quite significant." Professor Maliangkay says demographics plays a part. "Of course, we are a very small country in terms of population but if you look at cities like Sydney and Melbourne then the concentration of Asians around you will be much greater which probably provides a bit of an impetus for young people to try and establish their own identity and be noticed. "And I think that is another driver for young Australians with an Asian background to perhaps try their luck at becoming a K-pop artist." "Another factor is that communication amongst Australians tends to be rather positive," Professor Maliangkay said. "People here communicate in a very positive manner. "Australians are really good at representing themselves and in engaging in conversation so that also makes things easy for an agency. "Australians are generally very polite, they're pleasant and they use a lot of words like fantastic, wonderful and great, which when you go to Britain that is not exactly the case." Professor Maliangkay says it's unlikely there are political reasons at play, but it could be a tiny factor. "I don't think it is very likely that it's a political decision not to go with a United States-born artist," he said. "But I do think that it's a little easier for Chinese fans to fall in love with a non-US based idol than it is when you're dealing with someone born in Australia. "It's a tiny factor and the fans ultimately will fall in love anyway, but I think it might make things just a little easier." "If you're a young person and you want to go to a workshop in Korea and try your luck at an audition, at the moment, the time difference between us and Seoul is one hour only," Professor Maliangkay said. "So, that makes going back-and-forth even when you're in high school just a little easier. "Again, that's a tiny reason just like the political one but the other reasons I'm more sure of, that is, the language aspect, the greater convergence of Asian Australians and then the communication and the representation of Australians in general." So, who has made it big and who is on their way? Blackpink's Rosé made history when her collaboration with Bruno Mars APT debuted at number one on the ARIA singles chart making her the first solo female K-pop star to top the ARIA chart. "She was born in New Zealand but then she was raised in Melbourne, I think from the age of seven and then she trained herself singing in church choirs," says Professor Maliangkay. "She just suddenly had the courage when she was quite young, I think she was 16, to pack her bags and go to YG entertainment where she went to train, and it worked out. "In the beginning, she was an absolute nobody, of course, and risked a lot doing all this and spending money on this. NewJeans broke a Guinness World Record when they became the fastest K-pop act to reach a billion streams on Spotify, unseating BTS. They have two Australian members. "Danielle was born outside a big city, in Newcastle, NSW," Professor Maliangkay said. "She has an Australian father and a Korean mother. "And they moved to Korea in 2019 at around the age of 14. "She was kind of scouted by HYBE. "Hanni was born in Melbourne and she's half Vietnamese. "[She] moved to Seoul around 2020 at the age of 16 so that would make her 21 right now. "She also ended up with the same company, with HYBE." Fans of K-pop would be aware of some recent news surrounding the multinational entertainment company HYBE. "Although the company has responded to the recent allegations of insider trading by a former executive saying it is fully cooperating with the authorities, it denies any wrongdoing by chairman Bang Si-hyuk. "And yet, since December, Bang has been under police investigation on suspicion of profiting by as much as $450 million from misleading shareholders during the company's listing." HYBE has issued the following statement to ABC News on the matter. Regarding NewJeans, Professor Maliangkay says fans were distraught to learn of a stand-off between NewJeans and parent company HYBE. "What is more, following the public fallout over management rights with former CEO Min Hee-jin of ADOR that began in April last year, NewJeans's activities have now been put on hold, with ADOR last Friday winning an injunction against the group members engaging in any unauthorised individual entertainment activities until the legal process has run its course," Professor Maliangkay said. "The idols stand by Min and argue that HYBE's reorganisation of ADOR has turned it into something very different from the label they signed with. "Conflicts between idols and their management over contracts are not uncommon. Groups like Fifty Fifty, Loona, and TVXQ have faced serious disputes, some of which have led to their disbandment. "While the high stakes of investment and intense competition help explain the often inequitable nature of contracts, fans typically rally behind the idols, so the companies almost always stand to lose from public disputes. "I suspect that quite a few fans will respond to the scandals either by not investing as much money in HYBE products, or embracing the idols of other agencies, or both. "Despite the negative reports surrounding HYBE's management, however, fans' excitement for BTS's long-awaited return — marked by SUGA's military discharge on June 21 — will likely remain undiminished." HYBE subsidiary ADOR has issued the following statement. "We express our sincere gratitude for the court's judicious decision to grant the preliminary injunction. Bang Chan was born and raised in Sydney and Felix grew up in Sydney. "Felix is the fashion icon, partly, of Stray Kids and he's doing really well in that sense in addition to of course being a very talented performer," Professor Maliangkay said. "Bang Chan is also very much a composer. "He has his own kind of composing agency as well. "So, he's composed quite a lot of music for Stray Kids. "He's also the leader of [the group]. "If I had to pick the top K-pop groups at the moment, NewJeans and Stray Kids would be in that list. "It's quite something to have both groups having two Australian members so it is significant and that's why I think it's very good to ask indeed why is it? "Because you do wonder why is it that there are so many Australians [in K-pop]." NMIXX's Lily is returning home this month to perform in Melbourne and Sydney. "Lily was born in Marysville, Victoria to a Korean mother and an Australian father," Professor Maliangkay said. "About 10 years ago, she left to work for JYP Entertainment. "She signed a contract in 2015 and eventually then into 2022 she then debuted with NMIXX, which means seven years of training and preparation before you actually end up being a frontline act. "It's a long time to just be training, it's a bit like doing a PhD." "Jake was born in South Korea but then grew up in Brisbane,' Professor Maliangkay said. "He moved back to Seoul in 2019 and then trained under HYBE. "Roughly after one year he was made part of Enhypen and I think they're doing quite well. "Of course, Brisbane also has a very large Asian community, so I suppose there's a little bit of an impetus for young Asian Australians to kind of stand out a little bit and do something different, be noticed, and then of course with all trainees the lure of fame, money, fashion, and perhaps cosmetic surgery, which is definitely one of the perks, because the agencies will help you arrange that." Others to watch out for are Robin from who has debuted, and who said on TikTok that he went to the same school as Felix from Stray Kids and cites the whole group as role models. And Mackiah from ampers&one who is from Western Sydney and debuted in 2023.
