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HOLLYWOOD – Netflix’s smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters” – a tale of good and evil incorporating traditional Korean mythology and set to a thumping soundtrack – on Sunday won the Oscar for best animated feature.
It snapped up a second Academy Award for best original song for “Golden,” the film’s infectious anthem about empowerment, self-reliance and personal growth. It was the first K-pop song to win the category.
The movie – co-produced with Sony Pictures Animation – premiered on Netflix in June 2025, but quickly found a massive global following and is currently the streaming giant’s most-watched original film of all time.
When a special singalong version was released in North American theaters for one weekend only, it easily topped the box office chart.
“This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,” co-director Maggie Kang told the audience, with co-director Chris Applehans and producer Michelle Wong at her side.
The movie tells the tale of HUNTR/X, a popular K-pop girl group whose members live double lives as weapons-wielding demon slayers. Their songs help create a magical barrier called the Honmoon that protects humanity.
The role of demon hunter is passed down over the generations.
The current trio – Rumi, Mira and Zoey – are sassy women who dress well but also are goofy and wolf down Korean food between performances and hunting missions.
They must square off against a demon boy band, the Saja Boys, who are sent by the demon lord Gwi-ma to weaken the Honmoon. A battle for humanity ensues.
The film borrows from the idea of shamanism – the tradition of having intermediaries to interact with the spiritual world, and features sweeping recreations of Seoul’s skyline.
Kang has explained the project was years in the making.
“This silly K-pop movie idea could represent so many aspects of my culture. Once I realized that, it was full force, making the most Korean movie I could make,” she told The New York Times in an interview published in January.
“I wrote a lot of things in Korean first, in my head, and thought about, what is the best way to translate this emotion or dialogue into English?”
