Just two months ago, on June 20th, a little movie produced by Sony called Kpop Demon Hunters dropped on Netflix. This movie has absolutely taken the world by storm and I would argue is the summer blockbuster movie of 2025. With its catchy soundtrack, vibrant visuals, and lovable characters, this movie was geared for success. With the official theatres singalong release that happened on August 23rd, I felt it pertinent that we talk about the success of Kpop Demon Hunters since its release and how it reached its fame.

The Soundtrack

Some notable achievements since the movie dropped on Netflix is the smashing success of the soundtrack. HUNTR/X’s ‘Golden’ takes the lead recently hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Even more notable is that it’s the first women group with three or more members to achieve this in over 2 decades. The last time this happened was with ‘Bootylicious’ by Destiny’s Child in 2001! This is also the first K-pop song by women artists to reach this goal. 

The rest of the songs have massive success behind them as well. On the Billboard Global 200 charts, the soundtrack dominates the top 20. ‘Golden’ is number one, followed by ‘Soda Pop’ by the Saja Boys following at number three. ‘Your Idol’ by Saja Boys at number four. ‘How It’s Done’ by HUNTR/X is number five and ‘What it Sounds Like’ by HUNTR/X at number 11. The Rumi and Jinu duet ‘Free’ is number 13 and finally ‘TAKEDOWN’ by HUNTR/X is number 14. 

I watched the movie a week or two after it first dropped and I fell in love with the soundtrack. Just like the rest of the world, I saved a few songs on my playlist and regularly revisit them. My personal favorites are ‘Your Idol’ and ‘How It’s Done’, but all the songs are special. There’s one very short song that I wish had an extended official version. It’s Jinu’s Lament, where he presents the plan to Gwi-Ma. An added bonus is that Jinu’s actual voice actor, Ahn Hyo-seop, sang the lament himself. Most of Jinu’s songs are sung by Andrew Choi, who has a phenomenal voice. However, I think it’s extra special that the speaking voice actor sung the lament. 

The Movie

Not only has the soundtrack been a huge success, but the movie itself has reigned supreme over most Netflix originals. It is currently number two of Netflix’s most watched movies of all time, following Red Notice. As of writing, it is 20 million views behind, but I believe it can surpass number one if the hype doesn’t die down anytime soon. 

All the achievements aside, Kpop Demon Hunters is simply a refreshing and fun movie. It was not on my radar at all until it dropped on Netflix and I immediately began seeing hype over it. I completely understand why. The premise of a girl K-pop group who fights demons with their voices and fighting moves to stave off the demons is such a wacky but fun idea. I’ve seen this compared to other girly fighting shows or movies of the 2000s. One that comes to mind for me is the Totally Spies tv show from 2001. It was a movie I didn’t know I needed until it came out, celebrating girl power while being fun. 

Why It’s Successful

I think the success of Kpop Demon Hunters also comes at a time where Hollywood seems more interested in regurgitating classics of the past or rehashing IPs over and over again–looking at you, Toy Story 5. I know I’m reaching a sort of exhaustion where I roll my eyes when I see announcements for things like a live action Moana, a movie that’s barely a decade old. Even if I did genuinely enjoy something like Inside Out 2 or I am curious about Zootopia 2, I am personally starved for new ideas. 

You may also consider that Pixar did release an original movie this year–and then promptly blamed their audience for not liking it. You might ask why Elio didn’t reach mainstream success like Kpop Demon Hunters did. The answer lies within a couple things, but I personally believe it’s because it was not the most compelling narrative. It underwent massive creative changes during its development of the story. It had promising LGBTQ+ themes that got erased in favor of a more ‘relatable’ narrative, something that left a bad taste in many people’s mouths. 

I don’t think bad marketing alone can be blamed because from my perspective, I also hardly saw marketing for KDH. Part of its success has to do with word of mouth and it spread like wildfire online compared to Elio. Whatever the case may be, audiences are certainly not turning away original movies. We are just asking for compelling ones. 

More Kpop Demon Hunters?

Sony would be foolish not to create sequels for KDH. Now I know you may be wondering why I’d be excited for sequels when I just condemned Disney for it. It’s simply because I do have more trust in Sony in delivering compelling sequels. One of my favorite franchises is the Spiderverse movies, where both movies are amazing, even if it’s technically not done yet narratively. It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but there’s a strong likelihood of KDH having a sequel. 

The co-director, Maggie Kang, revealed that there’s more story to tell. There’s more for Mira and Zoey that they didn’t have the chance to explore in the movie and would love to show more about them in a future installment. So with that being said, it wouldn’t be quite a cash-grab as the directors have always envisioned more for the beloved characters than they had time to include on screen. Whatever the future holds for Kpop Demon Hunters, I know I’ll be tuned in and ready to jump back in.