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KPop Demon Hunters

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KPop Demon Hunters
Release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Danya Jimenez
  • Hannah McMechan
  • Maggie Kang
  • Chris Appelhans
Story byMaggie Kang
Produced byMichelle Wong
Starring
Edited byNathan Schauf
Music byMarcelo Zarvos
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • June 20, 2025 (2025-06-20)
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesUnited States
South Korea
LanguageEnglish

KPop Demon Hunters is an upcoming American animated musical action comedy film 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 Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Byung-hun Lee.

The film will be released on June 20, 2025, on Netflix.

Premise

When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.

— Sony Pictures Animation

Voice cast

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.[1][2] Mingjue Helen Chen and Ami Thompson were also announced as production designer and art director, respectively.[1] By April 2025, Warner had dropped out of the film, and the film's title was KPop Demon Hunters.[3]

The film was conceived by Kang. Wanting to make a film that was set in Korean culture, she delved into mythology and demonology "for something that could be visually unique from what we’ve seen in mainstream media." K-pop later came to mind when thinking about a day job for the main characters.[4] She also wanted "to see something different from the Marvel female superheroes that were just sexy and cool and badass," while also wanting "to see girls who had potbellies and burped and were crass and silly and fun", and wanting "to create something that encompassed all of those elements."[5] Kang also wanted "to pull off is similar to how Bong Joon Ho juggles so many different tones in his films to where they feel very animated."[4] She also called the film a love letter to K-pop and her Korean roots.[1] 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).[4] He stated that he "always wanted to do a film about the power of music – to unite, bring joy, build community."[1]

Casting

Ji-young Yoo was revealed to star in the film in April 2025.[6] The rest of the cast was announced later that month.[7]

Animation

Like most Sony Pictures Animation films, the film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks. Josh Beveridge serves the head of character animation. Inspiration was drawn from music videos, editorial photography, K-dramas, concert lighting, and "the look and feel of anime". Kang steered away from the style of the Spider-Verse films. Inspiration was also taken from faces. Beveridge "The movie’s on two’s a great deal too, so it’s very bold, graphic language, except this also has a lot of glamour, and we wanted a lot of lensing and soft focus and the bokeh effect on things as well. That was one of the really interesting challenges to have this very bold graphic look." The characters' faces were transformed based on the tone. In the "high-glamour" moments, "they need to feel like pop stars in an animated world. When we want to get a little bit more animated aggro, we reshape their faces with a lot more line work, a lot more angularity. When we go hyper-ridiculous, there’s a thing we call Chibi, or demi-Chibi, that’s super-cute and exaggerated features. So we had a whole tool set of being able to have interchangeable facial features we could swap in and out, and we weren’t limited by the geometry of the model.”[4] The film was completed in April 2025.

Music

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 will also feature the voices of Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, Andrew Choi, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee, Neckwav and Lea Salonga. The soundtrack's lead single "Takedown" will be released in June 2025, performed by Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung of Twice.[8]

Release

When the film was first announced in March 2021, a release timetable was not set.[1] Later on that same month, the film was listed to have a release type of theatrical.[2] In April 2022, it was reported that Netflix registered a filing for the film.[9][10] The film was confirmed to be coming to the streamer in February 2023, in a Business Insider interview with Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman.[11] In June 2024, the film was announced to be released in 2025.[12] 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.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Donnelly, Matt (March 8, 2021). "Animated Musical About Demon Hunting K-Pop Girl Group in the Works at Sony (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - K-Pop: Demon Hunters". Variety Insight. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  3. ^ "kpop demon hunters". Sony Pictures Animation. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d Gaur, Ryan (June 13, 2025). "The Directors of 'KPop: Demon Hunters' Take Us Backstage of Their Netflix/Sony Showstopper". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  5. ^ Romano, Nick (May 22, 2025). "KPop Demon Hunters trailer reveals a fiend-fighting girl group in pop-powered animated musical (exclusive)". Entertainment Weekly. Dotdash Meredith. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  6. ^ David S. Cohen; Paula Hendrickson; Karen Idelson; Nick Krewen; Todd Longwell; Stuart Miller (April 9, 2025). "Variety's Legal Impact Report 2025: Meet Hollywood's Top Entertainment Attorneys". Variety. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Hatchett, Keisha (April 24, 2025). "Demon Hunters, Arriving This Summer, Unveils Full Voice Cast". Netflix.com. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
  8. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (April 24, 2025). "Sony's 'KPop Demon Hunters' Cast, Music Roster & Netflix Premiere Date Revealed". Animation magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2025.
  9. ^ Moore, Kasey (February 17, 2023). "'K-Pop: Demon Hunters': Sony Animation Movie To Release Exclusively on Netflix". What's On Netflix. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  10. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (April 13, 2022). "News Bytes: 'City of Ghosts' Nominated for Peabody, Sony's 'K-Pop' Might Groove on Netflix, 'Sonic 2' Blasts the BO & More". Animation Magazine. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  11. ^ Atkinson, Claire (February 16, 2023). "Sony's movie chief talks China censorship, upcoming game adaptation 'Gran Turismo,' and how his studio is preparing for a potential Hollywood writers' strike". Business Insider. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  12. ^ Grobar, Matt (June 6, 2024). "Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans Directing Animated Feature 'K-Pop: Demon Hunters' For Netflix – First Look". Deadline Hollywood.
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