NEW YORK CITY– In the vibrant, computer animated, music globe of “KPop Satanic Force Hunters,” every person is a follower. The public rocks Tees sustaining their preferred idolizers. They hold light sticks and look starry-eyed at arena phases; they shriek, they weep, they support, they acquire the merch.
It should not come as much of a shock, after that, that the Sony Photo/ Netflix movie itself has actually motivated comparable excitement, having actually covered the banner’s international positions. Followers have actually swamped the web with art, covers, cosplay and choreography in action to the film, which adheres to the imaginary K-pop lady team HUNTR/X as they combat satanic forces.
And it’s not simply the movie that’s a summer season hit. The “KPop Satanic force Hunters” soundtrack has actually covered the graphes– debuting at No. 1 on Signboard’s Soundtracks graph and No. 8 on the all-genre Signboard 200.
Right Here’s just how “KPop Satanic force Hunters” ended up being the year’s unusual success tale.
The “KPop Satanic force Hunters” soundtrack uses a few of the most effective and brightest in the style. That consisted of a collaboration with K-pop business The Black Tag, co-founded by extremely manufacturer Teddy Park, recognized for his collaborate with YG, Blackpink and 2NE1– encouraged lady teams made use of as recommendations for the movie’s lead characters, the triad HUNTR/X.
It is among the lots of factors the music movie’s soundtrack depends on its very own. Filmmakers “actually did their research,” claims Jeff Benjamin, a songs reporter that concentrates on K-pop.
Certainly, they did a great deal of study. Among the movie’s supervisors, Maggie Kang, claimed that her group focused on “standing for the fandom and the idolizers in a really details method,” regarding not let down K-pop followers.
They drew from a bonanza of impacts listened to at every edge: The imaginary, competing kid band Saja Boys’ hit tune “Soda water,” as an example, recommendations the ’90s K-pop team H.O.T.
And it has actually functioned. “KPop Satanic Force Hunters” is the highest possible charting soundtrack of 2025, with 8 of its tracks touchdown on the Signboard Hot 100. It came to a head at No. 2 on the all-genre Signboard 200. To place that in point of view: Lorde’s “Virgin” and Justin Bieber’s “Swag” did the very same.
Somehow, it remembers Disney’s “Encanto,” which covered the Signboard 200 and generated a No. 1 hit, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” in 2022. Likewise, “KPop Satanic force Hunters” welcomes “the original soundtrack, which is a lost art kind,” includes Benjamin.
Tamar Herman, a songs reporter and writer of the “Notes on K-pop” e-newsletter, claims the film is successful due to the fact that it welcomes computer animated music practice and genuine K-pop songs manufacturing designs in equivalent step. She takes into consideration “Kpop Satanic force Hunters” to be “a music with tracks motivated by K-pop,” like a Jukebox musical, where the tracks of ABBA are reimagined for “Mamma Mia.”
The uniqueness of the movie, as well, appears to be reverberating. Where lots of computer animated movies count on adjusting existing copyright, “KPop Satanic Force Hunters” is initial. And it originates from an initial point of view. “It’s not entirely Oriental, it’s not entirely Western and it’s sort of right because center,” claims Kang. “It resembles not drawn from one side; it’s sort of tastes of both. So, I assume that’s what makes the film really feels a bit various.”
And “the core tale is what’s attracting everyone in,” claims Kang.
San Francisco-based cosplayer and material developer Nanci Alcántar, that passes Naanny Lee on-line concurs. “It’s not just a K-pop team, however it additionally narrates of their trip, of just how they change right into effective warriors,” claimed Alcántar in Spanish. For her, it surpasses K-pop– it has to do with the story.
Kang’s technique to social credibility, as well, might have added to the movie’s crossover charm. As opposed to clarifying Oriental components like HUNTR/X’s browse through to a typical medication facility or equating K-pop light stick society for Western target markets, she selected complete immersion. “We simply desired everyone to simply approve that they remained in Korea,” Kang claimed.
The supervisor claimed this approach of “tossing individuals right into the deep end of a society” breaks down obstacles far better than heavy-handed description. “We simply intended to maintain every little thing sensation typical,” she described. “If you do not radiate a light on it, it simply ends up being even more conveniently approved.”
Zabrinah Santiago, a San Diego-based longtime K-pop follower and freelance illustrator that passes ItmeZ online, was so motivated by the computer animation design of the film that she competed to make follower art. She marketed detailed follower cards of HUNTR/X and Saja Boys at her cubicle at the Los Angeles Anime Exposition, kept in July, 2 weeks after the film was launched on Netflix.
And she had not been the just one. A search of #kpopdemonhunters on Instagram returns hundreds of follower pictures of HUNTR/X and Saja Boys.
Japan-based Youtuber Emily Sim, additionally called Emirichu online, claims the personality styles and initial story attracted her to the film. Sim, with greater than 3.5 million customers on YouTube, published a 35-minute video clip concerning the film. In a week-and-a-half, it amassed almost 450,000 sights.
” I enjoy seeing all the follower art and simply the manner ins which this film has artistically passionate individuals,” Sim claimed.
Kang claims for “KPop Satanic Force Hunters,” her group intended to unite satanic forces and Jeoseung Saja– the pale horse in Oriental folklore– for a movie that might look both really conventional and up-to-date– what she claims prevails in K-dramas however not in computer animation.
Herman contrasts the film to one more Sony computer animation: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” which additionally brought in a wide target market with its imaginative computer animation. “And it’s an enjoyable, computer animated musical, which we have not had in a while,” she claims. “It’s cheesy, it’s interesting, it’s global.”
Santiago was at first cynical of the title “KPop Satanic force Hunters.”
” I seem like with large business they sort of like to make use of K-pop as a lure. They sort of like to capitalize on K-pop followers’ genuineness,” claimed Santiago. “However I seemed like with this one, it was such like sort of a love letter to K-pop followers.”
Certainly– if the movie had not been genuine to K-pop followers’ experience, or buffooned them, it is not likely to have actually ended up being so preferred, claims Benjamin. Rather, there are Easter eggs for the committed K-pop audience.
Herman concurs, and claims that the movie has in-jokes for K-pop followers, like a youngsters’s film that includes some wit suggested to appeal especially to moms and dads.
” Identifying what makes K-pop tick in a manner that reverberates with music followers was actually vital to this film,” claimed Herman.
For Kang, that was constantly at the heart of the task. “Fandom plays a significant component on the planet being conserved at the end of the film,” she claimed. “So, we were actually certain that we were doing that justice.”
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Karena Phan reported from Los Angeles. Juwon Park reported from Seoul.
