Netflix phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters is getting its streaming sing-along version.
Dropping on the streaming platform tonight at midnight PT, Netflix announced the news on social media with the caption: “FOR THE FANS!”
The animated film, produced in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation (of the Spider-Verse movies), has dominated both Nielsen and Netflix streaming charts since its June 20 release, becoming the streamer’s most-watched animated film in history.
News of the sing-along edition moving to streaming comes after its one-weekend-only screening event in theaters, which logged an estimated $18M two-day opening, per industry sources reported by Deadline, topping horror hit Weapons to become the platform’s first box office win.
A particular driver for the movie’s success is its resonance among kids and earworm tracks, with the KPop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) holding strong at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart for the week of Aug. 16 — scoring more than 3 billion global streams to date. The album also topped charts on Spotify, with the movie’s fictional boy band’s song “Your Idol” surpassing real K-pop sensation BTS’ “Dynamite.” (Just several days ago, Andy Samberg told Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Tiffany Haddish he is more obsessed with the movie than his eight-year-old daughter.)
Co-written and co-directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, Kpop Demon Hunters follows Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), three young-adult pop stars in a group called Huntr/x, whose ancient demon slayer lineage has them moonlighting as demon hunters when they aren’t selling out stadiums and topping charts. When their biggest demonic enemy (Lee Byung-hun) encourages the formation of an equally popular K-pop boy band aimed at stealing the souls of their fans, the trio has to fight harder than ever to hold the demons at bay while keeping their friendship intact.
“I expected [the movie] to be really awesome and fun, but I did not expect it to be at the level that it is at right now,” Hong told Deadline in a recent interview. “I didn’t think it would be a complete phenomenon, a global sensation or top of the charts.”