Netflix's Ingenious New Hit Movie Is an Unlikely Mashup of Two Very Different Genres

Against many—if not all—odds, the breakout movie of the summer, at least on Netflix, is an animated musical about a K-pop girl group who moonlight as demon hunters. KPop Demon Hunters, from Sony Pictures Animation (the studio behind the Spider-Verse films), premiered last Friday and has remained in the streamer's Top 10 ever since. And for good reason: It rules.

Like Spider-Verse , KPop Demon Hunters is a maximalist celebration, blending genres and animation styles. Which is fitting: K-pop itself thrives on mixing references, tones, and sounds, often within a single track. The film channels K-pop's theatricality, its camp, and its big, earnest heart. It's beautifully animated, genuinely funny, and, crucially, delivers some undeniable bangers. (It helps that the filmmakers teamed up with real K-pop producers, including the Black Label's Teddy Park—known for his work with Blackpink—and Grammy winner Lindgren, who's collaborated with BTS and Twice.)

I spoke with co-directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans about the film's many influences, how they cracked its musical storytelling, and why the soundtrack is winning over even self-proclaimed K-pop skeptics. “I keep seeing people online say, 'I'm not a fan' or 'I don't know anything about K-pop, but I can't stop listening to the music,'” says Kang. “We've opened the door for them. It's just incredible.” This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Slate: There's really only one place to start. Why combine K-pop and demon-hunting?

Maggie Kang: The movie didn't start as a K-pop concept. I wanted to create something that celebrated my Korean heritage and showcased Korean culture, and was especially inspired by Korean shamans, who are typically women performing rituals through song and dance. Those ceremonies felt like the earliest concerts where the audience really connected with the performer—there's this shared energy. We wanted to make that energy the superpower in KPop Demon Hunters, and once we connected the project to something rooted in Korean tradition, it opened up a whole mythology running through this imagined version of our world for hundreds of years.

Chris Appelhans: Around the time we were exploring that historical element, the pandemic hit, and BTS was doing virtual concerts. In a totally real, not corny way, we witnessed music as a force pushing darkness back against in the world. So, we went all in, pouring our hearts into making a movie that celebrates music in that way.

There's this idea studios have that movie musicals are a hard sell, and so the only way to get audiences in is to trick them into believing it's not a musical at all . Was that something you had to consider?

Kang: Yeah, we used to joke about it with our executive music producer, Ian Eisendrath, who's worked on a lot of musicals for both stage and film. We have this running joke that “Maggie doesn't like musicals,” and it's kind of true. I love music, but I only love musicals when they're excellent. From the start, we talked about this movie not being a traditional musical, where characters break into song to express their feelings. It felt like we could avoid that because our characters are naturally singers. Their job is performing. We always knew there would be pockets of music threaded throughout the film, and that felt like an organic way to push the story forward. But as we kept developing the film, we realized, Oh no, this is a real musical . Even though they're not exactly singing their feelings, every lyric had to serve the story, and reveal something about the characters or advance the plot. It became very challenging, very quickly, and we just had to admit, This is exactly what we said we wouldn't do, and here we are .

Did the fact that you were making a musical using K-pop, specifically, make that process easier or harder? What was the hardest part?

Appelhans: I think it was about finding a way to bring musical storytelling and the pop genre together. Traditional musicals tend to be very heart-on-sleeve. They're not trying to be cool. They're just expressive and emotional in a wonderful way. For us, it was about figuring out exactly what story each song needed to tell. In some ways, we followed the conventions of a traditional musical. “Golden,” for instance, is the film's “I want” song , which is essentially a biography of the girls, but also a chance for them to express what they're hoping to achieve. The fact that we managed to do that while making it a legitimately great pop song is probably why it's [in the Top 10] on the worldwide Spotify charts. “Golden” is telling a story, and a good pop song also tells a story. We're just delighted that the recipe worked.

Why was it important to involve collaborators from the current K-pop industry?

Appelhans: Musical skill. They're just extraordinarily gifted as producers, as songwriters, as tastemakers.

How influenced were you by the K-drama genre? It feels like Korean dramas might have influenced the romantic subplot in particular.

Appelhans: It can be really hard to tell a story about a character like Rumi, who has to keep a secret. They have no one to confide in, and how many monologues can you have? As the story evolved, it became about shame and the toxicity of hating parts of yourself. A big part of overcoming that is the catharsis of sharing some of that burden with someone else, and finding grace through their acceptance. We knew Rumi couldn't get that from her bandmates until the end of the movie, so we wanted to include a romantic element.

K-dramas are a natural influence here. They lean on familiar tropes but excel at earning each step of a relationship, and subverting those tropes with genuine emotion and character growth. Once we understood that approach, everything clicked. The scenes became easier to write, and we could better establish the tone.

Kang: The most important thing, I think, is that many K-dramas hold back. If you're watching a 16-episode series, you often have to sit through 14 hours just to get a hug or a touch. So, we really believed Jinu should be the most unattainable guy. He's a demon. He's like that vampire boyfriend you can never have, which makes him infinitely hotter.