KPop Demon Hunters: The Most Interesting Coverage

17 worthwhile reads about the movie-turned-phenomenon! 

View the Substack version of this piece here!

In no particular order, here are some of the most memorable articles about KPop Demon Hunters and its stars!

#1: “Parents Are Into ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ Just As Much as Their Kids, and for Good Reason”

DeVonne Goode for parents.com

“By the third watch, mom is fully engaged, grooving on the couch and singing along. The reel ends with the on-screen text reading, ‘Tenth time watching...,’ and mom is now dancing on top of the coffee table, wielding a sword, and passionately belting the song lyrics. ‘Sometimes these kids show[s] have some straight bangers… if you haven’t seen [KPop Demon Hunters,] you are missing out,’ Cruz writes in the post caption.”

Later in the article:

“And it's not just parents who've become fast fans. One commenter writes, ‘My husband and I watched and enjoyed this unironically. We don’t have children 🤣’”

Full article here!

#2: “We asked kids: Why are you so obsessed with ‘KPop Demon Hunters’?”
Harmeet Kaur for CNN

“When I asked some of the kids whether they found the movie weird or scary, they dismissed my questions and instead praised the movie’s plot and characters… ‘One of the main characters, Jinu, he just wants to destroy the world so he [can] get the voices out of his head,’ [one fan] said. ‘But then he actually develops his character[,] like, ‘This shouldn’t only be for me, it has to be fair for everybody.’”

Thoughts from 10-year-old Henna:

“I think what’s different about it is that it’s a demon movie and a K-pop movie mixed together… Usually it’s just K-Pop or just demons.”

Thoughts from 8-year-old Sienna:

“For [her], part of the appeal is that it feels like something she isn’t supposed to be watching: ‘It’s like a kid movie, but it has a tiny bit of violence.’”

Lastly:

“After conversations with about a dozen kids, I thought I had successfully grasped the basics… Then, [a young fan of the movie] ended our chat with this cryptic advice: ‘A message I have to say is that if you see someone drop their vocal patches, do not take [them]!’ Puzzled, I asked her what this meant. ‘You’ll see when you watch the movie,’ she replied with a playful giggle.”

Full article here!

#3: “Incheon airport offers hands-on class in ‘norigae’ making”
Park Jun-hee for The Korea Herald 

“Incheon International Airport is offering travelers a unique opportunity to engage with Korean culture through a one-day 'norigae'-making class, inspired in part by the hit animated film… Norigae are traditional Korean pendant accessories worn with hanbok for beauty, good fortune and spiritual protection… Norigae recently captured renewed attention after being featured in ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ where each Huntrix character wears a modernized version of the accessory. In the film, the norigae are integrated into their stage outfits and weapons to help them fight demons.”

Full article here!

#4: “Fallon Overtakes Kimmel Atop YouTube Late-Night Chart With KPop Demon Hunters Performance”
Jed Rosenzweig for LateNighter

“A Tonight Show performance of ‘Golden,’ featuring the three singers who voice the film’s fictional band Huntr/x, has now surpassed Kimmel’s return monologue to become YouTube’s most-viewed late-night clip of the season so far.”

Full article here!

#5: “‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is a top Halloween costume, and Asian kids are loving the representation”
Claire Wang for NBC NEWS

The headline does not fully capture the story’s essence, in my opinion:

“Since the movie draws so heavily from Korean traditions, marketing the characters’ outfits simply as trendy Halloween costumes can risk diluting their cultural importance, said Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist and culture critic.”

Full article here!

#6: “Netflix Didn’t Expect a ‘KPop’ Craze. Now Parents Are Stuck in a Halloween Horror.” 
Robbie Whelan for The Wall Street Journal

“Some parents are breaking out sewing machines and glue guns they haven’t used in years. Others are panicking.”

Another memorable quote:

“Officially licensed merchandise is too expensive for many… Netflix sells [Rumi’s] trademark yellow jacket… for $89.95.”

Full article here!

#7: “The Tragedy of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’”
Matthew Belloni for PUCK

Another great example of why people need to read past the headline to fully understand the argument!

“Sony isn’t just a production company, it’s a full-fledged studio with an experienced theatrical distribution apparatus. So why didn’t Sony release this movie itself? It came down to the timing of the deal. KPop Demon Hunters was in development at Sony Pictures Animation in 2021, when the company signed a massive ‘Pay One’ output deal with Netflix for its theatrical films. Concurrently, Sony forged a separate ‘direct-to-platform’ arrangement with Netflix, agreeing to offer a first look at certain live-action and animated film projects, and Netflix guaranteed to greenlight a minimum number that the two companies would develop together and Netflix would release and control… Sony would be paid a prenegotiated premium… 25 percent of the budgets, capped at $20 million per film. Netflix would keep all the rights and pay no profit participation. Back in 2021, this was a good deal for both sides… Sony likes to say that it ‘won’ the streaming wars by sitting them out and refusing to shovel money into the furnace of a mass-market service. But here’s an instance where the incentive to sell to the highest bidder ended up causing Sony to potentially leave massive amounts of money on the table, at least for this one title.”

Full article here!

#8: “Inside the Viral Success of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’: ‘Fashion, Weird Girls and Great Pop Music’”
Katcy Stephan for Variety

Director Maggie Kang on wanting “to see women act stupid” and funny!

“I have an experience of working on a different movie where we had one [female] character among five or six main characters, and she was also a twin… She was played by a phenomenally talented, funny comedian. We were watching all these screenings, and we were like, ‘Why isn’t she funny? We need to have her pop.’ I was like, ‘Well, her brother is the funniest one. Why don’t we just swap it and make her the funniest thing?’ And it was just silence in the room. There was this fear of portraying female characters in a fun light, or making them the funniest one in the room, or making them look ugly and unattractive.

“When it came time to create Huntr/x, Kang had just one thought about that previous feedback: ‘Screw that!’ Giggling as she recalls telling her team to animate ‘cavernous nostrils’ on the girls, she adds, ‘We could see freckles and bags under their eyes and unfilled eyebrows. We used that look for moments where the girls were most vulnerable.’”

Full article here!

#9: “‘I Don't See the Fandom Slowing Down’: How ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Became One of Netflix’s Biggest — and Most Unexpected — Hits” 
Nicole Fell for The Hollywood Reporter

Netflix chairman Dan Lin:

“Netflix allows our films to build their audience organically and over time… As word of mouth spread and social media caught on, we saw viewing really take off and the movie became a cultural phenomenon — it’s one of the only films to grow its audiences in its fifth and six[th] weeks of release.”

Full article here!

#10: “The 'KPop Demon Hunters' Craze Couldn't Have Happened in Movie Theaters”
Jeremy Fuster for TheWrap

“By allowing the public to share clips from the film, Netflix helped the word-of-mouth spread faster than any original animated film in theaters has enjoyed. A quick search on YouTube will bring up supercuts of every scene of various characters in the film… Forget hastily taken phone videos of Marvel post-credit scenes with poor quality. These are full-resolution rips that started spreading online within days of the film’s release… showing them the action, humor, colors and unique animation style without spoiling everything in a single video.”

Full article here!

#11: This Bloomberg article about Americans’ recent viewing habits
Lucas Shaw with this key quote: “KPop Demon Hunters isn’t just Netflix’s biggest movie of all-time. It is almost three times bigger than the next biggest one.”

Full article here!

#12: “The 67 Most Stylish People of 2025”
Compiled by The New York Times

“Thanks to Rumi… purple braids became a must-have hairstyle for many ‘Demon Hunters’ fans.”

Full article here!

#13: “Why Everyone’s Singing Along to K-Pop Demon Hunters”
Sara Leila Sherman and Morton Sherman for Psychology Today

“At first, I was skeptical… Then Hannah Choi, an executive function specialist, urged me to watch, saying, ‘It’s about connecting with others through music and finding your true self.’ She was right. The film, now a global phenomenon, is wildly fun and unexpectedly profound.

“Singalongs at K-Pop Demon Hunters screenings are not random disruptions. They are intentional acts of community, part of a long cultural lineage. Audiences at The Rocky Horror Picture Show have shouted lines in costume for decades. At Fenway Park, strangers belt out Sweet Caroline as if they’ve practiced all season. Church congregations, stadium chants, and Taylor Swift fans in Eras Tour theaters echo the same pattern: when music rises, so do we.”

On the technical aspects of the appeal:

“These songs are contagious because of their musical design. Driving beats at 100 to 120 beats per minute, the natural tempo of walking, creates an easy entry point. Hooks balance repetition with surprise, and chants encourage participation… Bilingual lyrics do not hinder participation. The mix of English and Korean breaks down barriers, reminding us that rhythm and melody often speak more directly to the brain than words.”

Full article here!

#14: “School bans singing of KPop Demon Hunters songs”
Curtis Lancaster for the BBC

“Lilliput Church of England Infant School in Poole, Dorset, sent a message to parents… saying some members of the community are ‘deeply uncomfortable’ with references to demons… In an update… acting head teacher Lloyd Allington said he had since received feedback from parents, highlighting positive messages from the songs, but said the school was seeking to support those who found the themes ‘challenging’... the school had received feedback from parents who said [the songs] had helped their children learn about teamwork, courage and kindness… [Allington said,] ‘While we fully respect your right to make choices about the content your child engages with at home, we also want to be mindful of the diversity of beliefs within our school community… We are not asking parents to tell their children that there is anything wrong with enjoying the film or its songs if it aligns with your own views and beliefs… Our role will simply be to help children understand that some of their peers may hold different views and to explore how we can respect and support those peers in upholding their faith.’"

Full article here!

#15: “Audrey Nuna Starts ‘Redemption’ Campaign For Luminos Fund After Missing $1 Million MrBeast Prize”
Jeff Benjamin for Forbes

“A core message of KPop Demon Hunters was pushing to reach one’s goals no matter what the obstacle is and now Audrey Nuna, the singing voice behind HUNTR/X’s Mira, is speaking that truth into existence with the announcement of a charity campaign after her ‘inner rage has been activated.’ The fire for fundraising was set following Nuna’s dramatic run on a star-studded MrBeast competition video inspired by his Prime Video series Beast Games where 30 celebrities battled to win a $1 million prize to donate to the charity of their choice.”

Audrey said:

“I was tossing and turning in my bed, just reliving when Steve-O stole my briefcase — watch the episode for context… I will be launching a redemption initiative to raise $1 million over the course of one year.”

Full article here!

#16: “K-Pop Demon Hunters Is TIME’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year”
Eliza Berman for TIME

Regarding director Maggie Kang: 

“KPop Demon Hunters is so personal that her daughter was named for its protagonist—no, not the other way around—and Kang cast her to voice young Rumi in the film. (She now proudly introduces herself with the origin story for her name.)

“As a kid, she’d been terrified of the jeoseung saja of Korean folklore, Grim Reaper–esque ushers into the afterlife. At first, they seemed too scary a concept for a kids’ movie, but her then-future niece’s love of Maleficent made her reconsider, and those mythological figures became the Saja Boys.”

On the style changes over time:

“While the crux of the story hasn’t changed since its inception, the film began with a smaller budget, darker tone, and slightly older-skewing target demo. It was Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation—which produced the film before selling the rights to Netflix in 2021—who persuaded Kang to aim bigger and brought Chris Appelhans, who directed 2021’s China-set Wish Dragon, on board to direct alongside her.”

On the global reach:

“K-pop fans were among the first to spread the gospel of the movie. They were joined by members of the anime fandom, which is estimated to include more than 1 billion devotees outside of Japan and China, with a global market of approximately $23 billion in 2023.”

Rei Ami, the voice of Zoey:

“All my life I’ve been told, ‘You’re too much.’ That too-muchness gave me a platinum record.”

Full article here!

#17: The full movie transcript is available as part of Deadline’s “Read the Screenplay” series!
Read it here or here!

BONUS: This important reminder! 

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