June 20 marks the one-year anniversary of Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” release.
Since then, the animated feature has spent 52 consecutive weeks on the streamer’s Top 10 list, shattering records and making history along the way — including becoming Netflix’s most-watched movie ever and winning the Oscar and Grammy for best original song for “Golden,” the first K-pop song to take home an Oscar. No one could have predicted its phenomenal success, which took the industry by surprise and left fans clamoring for merchandise, more music, more stories and anything “Demon Hunters” related.
Even co-director and creator of “Demon Hunters,” Maggie Kang, who conceived the idea over 10 years ago, never imagined the film would take off the way it did. Kang told Variety, “When Chris [Appelhans] and I were making this, we hoped it would connect with people, but seeing fans around the world — from Seoul to Brazil to Los Angeles — embracing these characters, creating their own art and living in this world has been a dream.” She adds, “It’s no longer just a movie; it’s become a global community.”
Kang says, “It’s clear that the film moved far beyond the screen. It now belongs to the fans who saw themselves in our demon hunters, and that connection is the greatest reward.”
Feeding the fandom has been key when it comes to what Netflix does behind the scenes, with the studio’s marketing and publicity team tuned in and listening. And if anyone knows about fandom, it’s the company’s chief marketing officer, Marian Lee.
“It’s easier to cultivate fandoms in this digital age versus a long time ago when it was like you were writing to join fan clubs, but it is also difficult to stay focused on what the fans want, because there is a proliferation of so many,” Lee says.
A sequel is currently in the works and is in the early stages of development. But that hasn’t stopped fans from writing fan fiction or posting videos to YouTube. “My son, who’s a huge fan, would come home from school, and say, “’I heard this, and Rumi has a twin, and he’d have these story lines, and it’s going to be in the second movie.’ I was like, buddy, ‘I haven’t even seen a script yet, so I promise it’s not,’” she laughs.
When working with partners, Lee says there’s a simple mandate: “We take the overarching principle with all of our franchises, and that is: Does this make sense for the universe? Is this something that the fans have either asked for or that they would be into?” But it doesn’t end there. Collaboration with the filmmakers is also important. “We ask, ‘How do you feel about it?’ and they’re great about adding on the stories, and being involved enough to say, ‘Okay, the girls wouldn’t do this in real life.’ So how do we tweak it so that it does feel authentic?”
The collaborations run across all sectors. In gaming, Fortnite added official skins for the characters. General Mills dropped cereal tie-ins, and Anua launched a co-branded K-beauty line. This weekend, TikTok Live is hosting a Global Watch Party. But Lee recalls it wasn’t always this easy.
“We were out there years in advance, pitching this to partners to do this with us,” she says, and the team hit the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas and the Brand Licensing show in London last year. “We didn’t have a finished film, and it was so hard for them to imagine that we really could not drum up any enthusiasm for it with partners.”
“Nobody would partner with us at that time,” she says. So the team at Netflix decided to produce products themselves, ordering t-shirts, hoodies and other merchandise — “fun things that we know fans like,” Lee says. “And then we put them on the Netflix shop, it ended up for us being a blessing in disguise, because all the partners then were like calling us that first weekend, asking, How do we get involved?”
Even Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro, admitted on the Decoder podcast that he had missed an opportunity.
As the film and its music started to explode last summer, Lee says brands like Hasbro, Lego, Mattel and even McDonald’s “pulled out all the creative stops” and sped up their development process to bring “Demon Hunters” products to market. “With the dolls, Mattel and Hasbro brokered a co-master toy agreement, which had never been done in the history of any franchise, and really speaks to the strength of this one.”
The McDonald’s tie-in was built around the film’s central rivalry between two K-pop groups: the demon-hunting girl group Huntr/X and their rivals, the Saja Boys. “There was story in there, and we got custom animation, and the singing talent from both sides were involved,” Lee said. Of all the collaborations, this one meant a lot to Lee. The meals brought Korean culture and food traditions into the mainstream. Lee says, “Being Korean, and to open up a breakfast sandwich and see Korean writing on the wrapper, I took a picture of that, because, never in my wildest dreams, would I think that it would be on my Egg McMuffin, but also that I had a very small part in bringing that to life.” Lee added, “We try to take it down a very genuine path of what the fans are looking for, even when we’re collaborating with partners.”
That particular partnership resonated with fans who were excited to collect the character cards. But it also resonated with the cast.
Audrey Nuna, the singing voice of Mira, would often go to the fast-food chain on her way to auditions, said, “It was a beautiful symbol of true fusion of what the film is.”
Similarly, for Arden Cho, the singing voice of Rumi, “Growing up in America, that feels like such an all-American dream. To be a Happy Meal was pretty cool, and something I never thought would be a bucket list thing.” Cho adds, “Why wouldn’t you pick Huntr/X. It just felt really fun because we got to be really playful.”
There were plenty more partnerships. May Hong, the speaking voice of Mira, says the “Shin Ramen was the craziest collaboration.” It was the most meaningful for her to see Huntr/X on the packaging. The instant noodle brand is, she says, “a household staple and a national treasure of a product.”
The phenomenal success of the film has changed the lives of everyone involved with more collaborations to come, and there’s a live concert planned. An Immersive House will open later this year in Dallas and Philadelphia where fans can step into the world of the movie. Again, photo ops and music ops will be a part of the experience. It’s what the fans want.
Looking back, Nuna reflected on how the story of the film has unfolded over the past year and has been received. “It’s a story that starts in the classroom in second grade in Manalapan, New Jersey, and not feeling accepted and not feeling like I had a space to occupy. This movie really changed that for me, and I think as an artist, every time you heal, you have a lot to kind of share about it, and that goes for, more importantly, this next generation, like understanding that this film might preemptively heal and also prevent certain wounds for this next generation, and maybe for Rei, May, EJAE, Maggie and everyone involved in the film.” She continues, “This film makes me want to continue to be a part of that movement, and to have that impact, and in turn, make clearer, better music.”
What’s next for the singing and acting voices of Huntr/X?
EJAE, the singer and songwriter who performed at the Fifa World Cup told Variety at the Gold House Gold Gala that she is “writing an album. I’m going to continue writing for other films or other artists as well. So, I’m very excited to collaborate.”
Cho is knee deep in planning her destination wedding, which was put on hold as she promoted the film. She says, “ We’re in post production for ‘Perfect Girl.’ I had a ton of music projects that I put on pause. I’m starting to figure out a schedule of when I’ll start releasing some of those things. It’s such a creative outlet.” She adds, “It’s a lot of original music I wrote pre-pandemic, and in the pandemic. The songs are very different from anything I’ve ever released before: a little bit more pop.”
Ji-young Yoo, the speaking voice of Zoey, says her next project is the movie “K-Pop Superstar.” The actress did extensive vocal training, which she found “surprisingly physically demanding.” The film, shot in South Korea, and follows a young Korean-American woman who defies her family’s wishes to compete in a televised competition to find the next K-pop girl group. “I danced nearly daily. Rather than trying to disappear into the character like many of my previous roles, I embraced all the parts of myself that were most like her,” she told Variety.
Hong is working on an indie film that is coming out soon. Currently, she can be seen on Hulu’s “Not Suitable For Work.” “It’s Mindy Kaling’s workplace comedy and was really fun to do in the midst of all of this because we shot in the fall, when it was starting.”
Rei Ami shared on social media, “In honor of Ani-May, I partnered up with Crunchyroll to bring my Attack on Titan fantasies to life.” And she continues to enjoying hearing what the fans have to say. She says, “My favorite moments have been meeting the fans and hearing their stories of how the film has impacted their lives.”
And Nuna says she’s working on new music. With so much change in the last year, Nuna says, she chooses music to help process things in life because “it’s space where I feel like I can really understand my life in a different way than most people. I’ve been reflecting and processing, and also getting ready for the summer festival run this year, where I’m really excited about performing my own material.” She adds she’s been writing, and says, “It’s been so healing, and it’s been so exciting to understand how I actually feel about so many things that have happened.”
It’s a feat that’s sure to be remembered in a decade, says Lee. “10 years from now, when you look back, the filmmakers created something so special that resonated with fans, and everyone has a part in how this has come to life.”
