KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters
Release poster
Directed by	Maggie Kang Chris Appelhans
Screenplay by	Danya Jimenez Hannah McMechan Maggie Kang Chris Appelhans
Story by	Maggie Kang
Produced by	Michelle Wong
Starring	Arden Cho Ahn Hyo-seop May Hong Ji-young Yoo Yunjin Kim Daniel Dae Kim Ken Jeong Lee Byung-hun
Edited by	Nathan Schauf
Music by	Marcelo Zarvos
Production company	Sony Pictures Animation
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	June 20, 2025 (2025-06-20)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Korean

KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 American animated musical fantasy action comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix. It was directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, from a screenplay by Kang, Appelhans, and Hannah McMechan and Danya Jimenez, based on a story conceived by Kang. The film stars the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Lee Byung-hun. It follows a fictional K-pop girl group, HUNTR/X, who lead double lives as demon hunters, and face off against a rival boy band, whose members are secretly demons.

KPop Demon Hunters originated from Kang's desire to create a story inspired by her Korean heritage, drawing on elements of mythology, demonology, and K-pop to craft a visually distinct and culturally rooted film. The film was reported to be in production at Sony Pictures Animation by March 2021, with the full creative team attached. The film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks and was stylistically influenced by concert lighting, editorial photography, and music videos as well as anime and Korean dramas. The soundtrack features original songs by several talents, and a score composed by Marcelo Zarvos.

KPop Demon Hunters was released on June 20, 2025, on Netflix, to positive reviews, with praise for its animation, visual style, voice acting, humor, and music.

Plot

For generations, demons preyed upon humans, feeding their souls to their ruler Gwi-Ma. Eventually, a group of three women rose as demon hunters and sealed the demons from the human world by creating a barrier known as the Honmoon. Their legacy continued across generations, with each trio using their singing voices to maintain the Honmoon.

In the present, the K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, comprising of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, are demon hunters under the guidance of Celine, a previous demon hunter who raised Rumi. After completing their world tour, HUNTR/X prepares to record a new single, "Golden", until Rumi begins losing her voice due to being part demon, which she has kept hidden from Mira and Zoey. In a flashback, Celine tells her that the complete eradication of demons will turn the Honmoon gold, a final seal that could permanently banish them and possibly erase Rumi's demon marks.

In the demon realm, Gwi-Ma grows enraged at his minions' failures. A demon named Jinu proposes a new strategy to form a K-pop boy group, the Saja Boys, to secretly drain fans' energy and weaken the Honmoon, in exchange for Gwi-Ma erasing his human memories. HUNTR/X encounters the Saja Boys and quickly uncovers their true nature but fails to stop them during a scuffle. Jinu discovers Rumi's demon heritage during their fight but helps her keep it secret from her bandmates.

Privately, Jinu tells Rumi that demons are enslaved by feelings of shame and sorrow through voices from Gwi-Ma. He reveals that 400 years earlier, Gwi-Ma granted him a beautiful voice that helped him and his family emerge from poverty but then condemned him to the demon realm; Jinu now lives with guilt over his family's downfall.

As the Idol Awards approach, HUNTR/X rushes to produce a new song, "Takedown", to expose the Saja Boys, but the boy group's popularity skyrockets. Mira grows suspicious of Rumi when she questions if "Takedown" is too hateful toward demons. Torn between her identities, Rumi sympathizes with the demons and proposes a plan to Jinu: If he helps HUNTR/X win the Idol Awards and reshape the Honmoon, he could stay in the human world and be free.

As the Honmoon weakens and more people have their souls stolen by demons, Mira insists to Rumi they prioritize saving lives over rewriting "Takedown". Rumi confides in Jinu that her shame over her heritage weakened her voice, but talking with him has healed it. After singing together, Jinu no longer hears Gwi-Ma's voice and resolves to sabotage the Saja Boys' plan. However, Gwi-Ma summons Jinu, reminding him of their deal and the truth he hides — that he willingly abandoned his family when he gained fame — before threatening to return the tormenting voices unless he does his bidding.

At the Idol Awards, the Saja Boys fail to appear, and HUNTR/X performs "Golden" to promote unity over demon hatred. However, impostor demons posing as Mira and Zoey trick Rumi into performing "Takedown", during which they reveal her demon marks. She flees the stage and runs into the real Mira and Zoey, who feel betrayed upon learning of her heritage and collusion with Jinu. Rumi confronts Jinu, who first denies the truth but then admits to abandoning his family, confirming Gwi-Ma's words.

Gwi-Ma casts a trance over Mira, Zoey, and the public, drawing them to the Saja Boys' final performance designed to shatter the Honmoon and unleash him. Rumi meets with Celine and asks her to end her life since she is half-demon. Celine refuses and offers to conceal the events, but Rumi lashes out at Celine for never fully loving her before leaving.

Rumi interrupts the Saja Boys' performance with a new song addressing shame and fear, which breaks Gwi-Ma's trance. Reunited, HUNTR/X fights back and frees the crowd. Jinu sacrifices himself to save Rumi from Gwi-Ma and transfers his restored soul to her; the empowered HUNTR/X defeat Gwi-Ma and the Saja Boys, ultimately sealing the demons and restoring the Honmoon.

Afterwards, Rumi, no longer ashamed, relaxes with Mira and Zoey. HUNTR/X later reappears in public to meet with their fans.

Voice cast

• Arden Cho as Rumi, the lead vocalist and overall leader of HUNTR/X. Introduced as a demon hunter, she is later revealed to be half-demon – the result of an affair between a demon and her mother, deceased hunter and former K-pop star Ryu Mi-yeong.
  • EJAE provides Rumi's singing voice
  • Rumi Oak as young Rumi and Young Fan
• Ahn Hyo-seop as Jinu, the leader of the Saja Boys, who is a demon with a past that haunts him.
  • Andrew Choi provides Jinu's singing voice
• May Hong as Mira, the visual and main dancer of HUNTR/X. She believes deep down she isn't worthy of family or friends as a result of being a problem child growing up.
  • Audrey Nuna provides Mira's singing voice
• Ji-young Yoo as Zoey, a Korean-American songwriter and rapper from Burbank, and the main rapper and maknae of HUNTR/X. She struggles with insecurity with her role in her friends' lives.
  • Rei Ami provides Zoey's singing voice
• Yunjin Kim as Celine, Rumi's foster mother and former demon hunter who fought alongside Rumi's mother. She is fixated on defeating the demons with a black and white mentality, refusing to accept there is grey.
  • Lea Salonga provides Celine's singing voice
• Joel Kim Booster as Romance Saja, Variety Show Host 1, and Idol Host
  • samUIL Lee provides Romance Saja's singing voice
• Alan Lee as Mystery Saja
  • Kevin Woo provides Mystery Saja's singing voice
• SungWon Cho as Abs Saja
  • Neckwav provides Abs Saja's singing voice
• Danny Chung as Baby Saja's singing voice
• Liza Koshy as Host
• Daniel Dae Kim as Healer Han, an eccentric doctor who can "see" his patients' problems.
• Ken Jeong as Bobby, the manager and main PR representative of HUNTR/X.
• Lee Byung-hun as Gwi-Ma, the king of the demons who corrupts humanity with weakness and insecurities. Lee also reprises the role in the Korean-dubbed version.

Production

Development

In March 2021, a film with the working title K-Pop: Demon Hunters was announced to be underway at Sony Pictures Animation. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans would direct with writing duo Hannah McMechan and Danya Jimenez writing the script and Aron Warner and Michelle L.M. Wong serving as producers. Mingjue Helen Chen and Ami Thompson were also announced as production designer and art director, respectively.

It was conceived by Kang who wanted to make a film "set in Korean culture"; she "delved into mythology and demonology for something that could be visually unique" compared to "mainstream media". She also called the film her "love letter to K-Pop" and her "Korean roots". On character design, Kang highlighted wanting to differentiate from "Marvel female superheroes that were just sexy and cool and badass" and instead have "girls who had potbellies and burped and were crass and silly and fun" leading to the creation of "something that encompassed all of those elements". She was also influenced by "how Bong Joon Ho juggles so many different tones in his films to where they feel very animated". Appelhans came on board later on after Kang told him her initial ideas for the film; he planned to take a long break after having directed Wish Dragon (2021). He stated that he "always wanted to do a film about the power of music – to unite, bring joy, build community." Kang explained that when developing the history of the demon hunters they decided to play into "the shaman women from Korean culture" as historically these women would "sing and dance to protect their village and their communities"

Kang revealed that the Saja Boys were inspired by Korean boy bands such as Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Stray Kids, Ateez, BigBang, and Monsta X. Korean actor and singer Cha Eun-woo was a key influence for Jinu, the group's leader. The three members of Huntrix were modeled after K-pop girl groups like Itzy, Blackpink, and Twice. The character of Mira was inspired by Korean model Ahn So-yeon. Baek Byung-yeul of The Korea Times stated the styling of both groups connects to "the past and the present of Korea" – the "Huntrix members wear 'norigae' pendants integrated into modern K-pop fashion, while Saja Boys perform in black hanbok and traditional horsehair hats for their song 'Your Idol,' evoking the image of the jeoseung saja, the Korean equivalent of the grim reaper". Additionally, the weapons Huntrix wields are rooted in "traditional Korean objects". Kang highlighted the visual journey in the character design such as the Saja Boys starting in a "bubble gum pop, very saccharine, super sweet look" and shifting darker until they "look like the iconic Grim Reaper with the hat". Appelhans commented that one of the design challenges were the costumes since they also acted as "plot points", noting that the gold outfits worn during the "Golden" song symbolize "their kind of MacGuffin of a dream" where Huntrix aspire for perfection and being "beyond reproach". However, at the second act's end, the ideal is visually represented as broken as "Rumi is standing there" with the dream "literally and physically in tatters".

Casting

Ji-young Yoo was revealed to star in the film in April 2025. The rest of the cast was announced later that month.

Animation

The film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks in both its Vancouver and Montreal facilities with Josh Beveridge as the head of character animation. Appelhans highlighted inspiration was drawn from "music videos, editorial photography, K-dramas, concert lighting, a touch of anime". Kang explained that after watching Sony's Spider-Verse films, which features a "hybrid 2D-3D style", they decided to "pull away from every 2D element in our movie" and instead "took a lot of inspiration from faces and the look and feel of anime" with the aim of doing "a CG version of it". Beveridge similarly noted the inspiration of "2D aesthetics but with three-dimensional language" and that they wanted the film to have a "very bold graphic look". Beveridge also highlighted shifting the characters' faces to reflect the film's tone such "high-glamour moments" where "they need to feel like pop stars in an animated world", "animated aggro" which has "faces with a lot more line work, a lot more angularity", and "hyper-ridiculous" moments they referred to as "Chibi, or demi-Chibi" which is "super-cute and exaggerated features". Kang emphasized the effort to authentically represent Korean identity through character animation, such as "mouth shapes and eye shapes that were very Korean". Although the characters speak English, Kang explained that the animators designed "mouth shapes that you would only make as a Korean person, with our Korean language".

Music

KPop Demon Hunters
Soundtrack album
Released	June 20, 2025 (2025-06-20)
Genre	Pop Film soundtrack
Length	37:50
Language	English Korean
Label	Republic

The film's original songs were written by Danny Chung, Ido, Vince, Kush, Ejae, Jenna Andrews, Stephen Kirk, Lindgren, Mark Sonnenblick and Daniel Rojas; and produced by Teddy Park, 24, Ido, Dominsuk, Andrews, Kirk, Lindgren and Ian Eisendrath. Marcelo Zarvos composed the score. The soundtrack also features the voices of Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, Andrew Choi, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee, Neckwav and Lea Salonga. The soundtrack was released on June 20, 2025; the lead single "Takedown" is performed by Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung of Twice.

KPop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) Track Listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Takedown (Twice version)" ((Jeongyeon, Jihyo, Chaeyoung))	Lindgren	Lindgren Ian Eisendrath	3:01
2.	"How It's Done" (Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami)	Danny Chung Ejae Mark Sonnenblick	24 ido Teddy Park Ian Eisendrath	2:56
3.	"Soda Pop" (Saja Boys: Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee)	Danny Chung Kush Vince	24 Dominsuk Ian Eisendrath	3:14
4.	"Golden" (Huntr/x)	Ejae Mark Sonnenblick	24 ido Teddy Park Ian Eisendrath	3:14
5.	"Strategy" (Twice)	Boy Matthews Cleo Tighe	Earattack Matthews Tighe Lee Woo-hyun	2:48
6.	"Takedown" (Huntr/x)	Lingdren	Lingdren Ian Eisendrath	3:02
7.	"Your Idol" (Saja Boys)	Ejae Kush Mark Sonnenblick Vince	24 ido Ian Eisendrath	3:11
8.	"Free" (Ejae as Rumi, Andrew Choi as Jinu)	Jenna Andrews Stephen Kirk Mark Sonnenblick	Jenna Andrews Stephen Kirk Ian Eisendrath	3:07
9.	"What It Sounds Like" (Huntr/x)	Jenna Andrews Stephen Kirk Mark Sonnenblick	Jenna Andrews Stephen Kirk Ian Eisendrath	4:10
10.	"Love, Maybe" (사랑인가 봐; Saranginga bwa)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	3:05
11.	"Path" (오솔길; Osolgil)	Jang Woon-beom Kang Joon-woo Jo Gap-chui Kim Young Hyeon Lee Soo Young	Kang Joon-woo Jo Gap-chui	3:41
12.	"Score Suite"	Marcelo Zarvos		3:00
Total length:				37:50

Release

When the film was first announced in March 2021, a release timetable was not set. Later on that same month, the film was listed to have a release type of theatrical. In April 2022, it was reported that Netflix registered a filing for the film. The film was confirmed to be coming to the streamer in February 2023, in a Business Insider interview with Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman. In June 2024, the film was announced to be released in 2025. In April 2025, it was revealed by an animator that the film would be released in June, while later that month, it was announced for a release date of June 20, 2025.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 23 critics' reviews are positive. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Brandon Yu, for The New York Times, stated KPop Demon Hunters "is an original universe that is charming, funny and artfully punchy", commenting that it "is funniest when it pokes at pop culture that is highly manufactured, from K-pop to K-dramas to mass-produced singing competitions". Matt Goldberg of TheWrap commented that the plot would "be painfully overwrought if not for the terrific thread of comedy running through the whole film that knows when to poke fun at K-pop and K-drama tropes". Yu noted that it "shares a kind of lineage" with Sony Pictures Animation's "recent hit Spider-Verse franchise" and while it shares a "similar visual style", what the film "borrows mostly is a more holistic and technical sense of the cinematic" with "fluid" action, "striking" art, and music that serves as a "dynamic storytelling tool". Isaiah Colbert of Io9 similarly commented that "the animation team at Sony Pictures Animation didn't skimp, delivering yet another visual treat with decadent and vibrant animation" after their success with Spider-Verse; he highlighted the "bold and expressive" character designs which allows Huntrix to shift from idol protagonists to "the kind of approachable girls with gremlin-like tendencies". Toussaint Egan of IGN opined that the film "knows how to tackle serious subject matter without taking itself too seriously which, along with its stunning production value and exciting action sequences, makes for a wholly entertaining experience". Goldberg praised Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans "for understanding that even though their setting may be outlandish, they still have to treat the stakes as real". Jeff Ewing, for Collider, stated that the film lands "a beautifully bonkers fantasy premise" and has "interesting lore around demons, music, and hunters, which is novel yet feels rich".

On the voice cast, Ewing commented that the Huntrix "performers have clearly distinct personalities and a strong collective dynamic", noting that "May Hong and Ji-young Yoo land Mira and Zoey" respectively and "Arden Cho gives a complex and emotional vocal performance as lead Rum"; additionally, "Ahn Hyo-seop is great as the clever, charismatic demon/boy band lead Jinu". Colbert also praised "the phenomenal voice work of its main cast" along with film's authentic "musicality" which "ensures that the songs are so catchy that even the most reluctant K-pop critic would find themselves bobbing their head and humming along to the chorus". He also commented that the film "explores music as both a haven and a form of emotional expression", which is similar to both "Turning Red and, surprisingly, Sinners", but noted it stands out by embracing "the magical girl anime aesthetic". Egan highlighted that "the fight sequences, with their flashy choreography and anime-inflected verve, lean heavily on musical numbers featuring originals songs penned by a who's who list of popular Western artists and Kpop mainstays" and that it is a "visually sumptuous action fantasy with the kind of heartfelt chest belters that are sure to make ardent converts of fans of animated musicals". Goldberg noted that the "catchy" songs have plot stakes which "helps keep the tension going throughout the film ".

Colbert's main criticism was an "overly convenient" resolution as the ending was "so neatly tied up that it loses some of the depth that its setup promised". Ewing felt the film could have spent more time building "up the other characters' emotional lives" and highlighted that the audience is "a bit shortchanged on Rumi's actually-very-important background". Similarly, Goldberg noted an occasional tonal "whiplash" and explained it is "not so much that the movie needs to discard the emotional elements, but if they were going to head in that direction, then they needed to provide stronger arcs for Zoey and Mira, who largely play as comic relief until the film's climax".

External links

• Official website
• KPop Demon Hunters at IMDb