No Live-Action for ‘Kpop Demon Hunters,’ Say Co-Directors, Citing Animated ‘Magic’

LOS ANGELES – Fans craving more from the hit Netflix animated musical film “Kpop Demon Hunters” may get sequels, but one wish appears to be off the table: a live-action adaptation.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the film’s co-directors and creators, recently spoke to the BBC about the future of the franchise, sounding certain that a switch to live-action won’t be happening anytime soon.

Kang explained that the film’s success relies heavily on the medium of animation, which perfectly suits its unique blend of tone and comedy.

“There’s so many elements of the tone and the comedy that are so suited for animation,” Kang said. “It’s really hard to imagine these characters in a live-action world. It would feel too grounded. So totally it wouldn’t work for me.”

“One of the great things about animation is that you make these composites of impossibly great attributes,” he said. “Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then freefalling through the sky. The joy of animation is how far you can push and elevate what’s possible.”

The film centers on a popular all-girl K-pop group that secretly hunts soul-eating demons to protect their fans, with their biggest threat being a rival boy band that are demons in disguise.

The film’s popularity has translated into commercial success beyond streaming views. Three songs from the “Kpop Demon Hunters” soundtrack—“Golden,” “Your Idol,” and “Soda Pop”—have cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The film, which blends the globally popular genre of K-pop (responsible for groups like BTS and BlackPink) with fantasy action, is now generating significant Academy Award buzz. Appelhans joked about the critical attention, saying, “the title alone is obviously Oscar bait.”

“We tried to do something new and it was really hard and I think we’re really proud of how it came out,” he added. “But if people are going to reward that, that would be awesome.”