Written by Puja TalwarOctober 3, 2025 08:27 AM IST 6 min read“We had absolutely never imagined that it would circle the globe the way it has,” says K-pop Demon Hunters co-director Chris Appelhans to SCREEN over an early morning Zoom call from Los Angeles. The animated musical fantasy film became Netflix’s most-streamed and popular title, retaining its spot in the Top 10 four months after its release in June this year. It is not just the film. The K-pop Demon Hunters soundtrack, featuring the fictional pop groups HUNTR\X and Saja Boys, has surpassed some of the biggest names in K-pop. From debuting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart to topping the all-genre Billboard 200 Global charts, Golden by HUNTR\X and Soda Pop by Saja Boys compete amongst themselves for the top spot. As it spawns cosplays and trends across platforms, there is a viral buzz in the industry that the film may be set for Oscar glory in the Best Animation category, given its cultural impact.“It’s always wonderful to hear that stuff,” says Chris Appelhans, who adds, “The whole time we were making the movie, we felt like this is very ambitious, and we might be really foolish for trying to do all this. It was really hard the whole time to juggle all those elements and to balance all of it nicely. It’s been nice in the last few months to hear from colleagues and people who work in film and in our industry acknowledging our efforts.” Co-directed by Chris and Maggie Kang, the film follows the trio HUNTR\X, a super-popular girl band who also moonlight as demon slayers. As they protect their fans and the world from supernatural threats, they face off against the Saja Boys, demons disguised as a charming boy band. The anime-styled K-pop musical blends action, fantasy, and an emotive narrative that focuses on universal themes of friendship, redemption, identity, and self-discovery, and has had cross-generational appeal across geographies.He says the one thing making the film taught him was how naive creators can be about their perceived target audience. “It always starts from ‘WE’. Let’s start by making something that we want to see, that’s personal to us, that we think is funny, the music we think is great, the jokes that we think are good, action we think is cool. We are also pretty tough critics of ourselves, and that takes a long time, and it’s hard work. But I think we live in this really cool time where a film can go on Netflix and become what it has. I have personally loved videos of fathers watching the film over their daughter’s shoulders as they prep dinner. I think that ability to pull in an audience who didn’t know they would like this movie, who couldn’t maybe see past the name at first because it’s in everybody’s houses, is incredible.”The story was conceptualized by Maggie Kang, a Korean American, whose initial impetus came from representation — to have something culturally set in Korea that had not been seen before. As she deep-dived into Korean folklore and mythology, the female shamans who often used music and dance to heal and ward off evil became the inspiration for Rumi, Zoey, and Mira, who form HUNTR\X — girls who slay as well as stay together. Married to a Korean himself, Chris divulges that his wife, a writer, had often spoken about the necessity to represent multi-dimensional female characters in animation.“When I met Maggie and she told me about this idea, she said, ‘I have this vision for these girls who are smart, but funny, yet angry, and vengeful.’ I literally understood what she was trying to say, and it’s just so overdue in animation to see those kinds of female characters. I think it’s actually really something that takes both a female director and female animators, and you need women throughout the process that can own those moments and make them authentic. For me, several moments were eye-openers, and I think what it really did was also become a representation of female friendship when they’re really comfortable and their guard is down, and that can be as precious and as special a thing to protect and fight for in a movie as anything else. I think it was a testament to the idea and to all the people on the film who connected with that idea — that we could make those types of characters.”As K-pop Demon Hunters celebrates its success and the constantly evolving dimensions in animation, the film industry is also set to roll out the red carpet to AI actor Tilly Nowrood. As the industry calls AI a creation and not a replacement for humans, Chris agrees: “It’s quite uncanny, and as a person who personally directs animation, it’s really hard to explain to people just how many talented individuals are needed to create an animated character in just a few seconds. Somebody has to design Rumi from scratch, somebody has to model her in three dimensions, another person’s job is to put a rig — like invisible puppeteer strings — in there to move her around. Then some human being goes into their living room and shoots a reference video of how they want to act the scene out. And then we animate it, and then we light it. This is a tapestry of really talented people, and their skills take decades, and there’s a human touch in all of them. The character is born from the inside out, and I think it’s really important to protect that, because that’s what art is.”Also Read | KPop Demon Hunters review: From BLACKPINK-esque energy to K-drama jabs, Netflix nails the tone without making a joke of itStory continues below this adAs K-pop Demon Hunters continues on its winning streak, are plans for a sequel in place, especially after the ending left some fans heartbroken? “There is nothing official. We are just enjoying the feedback from the fans and soaking all the love, since the movie has meant something to them. Obviously, we built these characters in this universe, and we have a million more chapters in our heads, but we’ll just have to wait and see for now.”Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd