‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Directors on How They Did It — And Made Netflix History
Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans on a ‘dumb idea’ that wasn’t and tease a sequel, live tour, merch: ‘It would be money left on the table if they didn’t’
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Before I bring you the backstory of one of Netflix’s biggest and most unexpected hits, a programming note: Please join me today at 5 p.m. PT for a live AMA for The Ladder, Ankler Media’s community for professionals in the first decade of their entertainment industry careers. To submit your questions and get the Zoom link, first apply here.
Now on to today’s main attraction, aka Netflix’s biggest feature ever.
For Maggie Kang, the idea of mashing up an animated movie about a group of female demon hunters who also happen to be K-pop stars is, admittedly, a weird one. But in the past five weeks, that mashup has proven to be hotter than a ticket to a Blackpink concert as Kang’s KPop Demon Hunters dominates on Netflix.
Now in its sixth week on Netflix, the Sony Pictures Animated feature became the first film in the streamer’s history to record more than 20 million views in each of its first six weeks and to actually snowball into its biggest weekly viewership metric in week six. (KPop Demon Hunters had a one-week, three-theater run in L.A., New York and San Francisco, qualifying it for Oscar consideration, with my colleague Katey Rich giving the film’s central anthem, “Golden,” its best chances for a nod.)
The movie was a passion project for Kang, who was born in Seoul and moved to Toronto at age 5. As she tells me, the film arose from her desire to explore Korean mythology and bring unexpected female characters to the screen. What she came up with is an epic tale revolving around a three-member K-pop girl group as they battle a rival boy band, Saja Boys, who, naturally, turn out to be demons.
Globally, an estimated 132.4 million viewers have spent time with Huntr/x members Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho); Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo). The film’s K-pop soundtrack, featuring irresistible songs performed by popular artists Ejae (Rumi), Audrey Nuna (Mira) and Rei Ami (Zoey), has collected more than 1.3 billion streams and counting — with all eight tracks breaking into Billboard’s Hot 100 charts and “Golden” at No. 1.
It’s the global hit everyone in Hollywood is talking about — but the project was far from a sure thing. KPop Demon Hunters, which marks Kang’s directing debut (she previously worked in story and artist roles on titles from Puss in Boots to The Croods: A New Age), was initially passed over at Sony, where she works as a director and was previously a story artist. But then Netflix — home to Korean breakout Squid Game — boarded the genre-busting musical adventure. The streamer “gave notes, but the core team was Sony,” says co-director Chris Appelhans (Wish Dragon, Rise of the Guardians), the animation veteran who also works at Sony and was partnered with Kang to help infuse her “very culturally Korean movie” with the music that would elevate the story into a global phenomenon.
I spoke with Kang and Appelhans about their film’s creative development, the hurdles to get there and the executives who helped, and the plot points, details and craft that went into making a hit, plus what’s coming next.
In our interview, the filmmakers break down:
Step-by-step: How a wildly original pitch turned into Netflix’s most-watched film ever
Why Sony first passed — and how Netflix seized the opportunity and brought it back to life
Who paid for the budget and who owns the rights now
The Korean mythology behind the story and how a “white guy” ended up co-directing
The creative strategy behind building characters into virtual pop stars, and how it subverts the superhero genre
The music strategy that made every song hit — and if a live tour is next
Their strong hints about a future sequel and spin-offs
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