KPop Demon Hunters named Time magazine’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year
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The fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters.
PHOTO: NETFLIX
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Netflix’s hit animated film KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
A cover featuring Rumi, Mira and Zoey – members of the fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in the movie – was unveiled on the American publication’s website and social media accounts on Dec 9.
“Not since Frozen in 2013 has an animated film been so omnipresent in our lives,” Time wrote in its story.
“The movie’s appeal seems self-evident in retrospect: Cool girls in sick costumes, singing full-throated anthems about self-acceptance that also happen to be instant earworms, matched by inventive, vibrant visuals.”
Released on June 20, KPop Demon Hunters tells the story of the Huntrix trio who lead double lives as demon hunters, protecting the world against Saja Boys, demons disguised as a K-pop boy band.
It is Netflix’s most-watched title of all time, surpassing 325 million views in its first three months and hitting the top 10 in 93 countries and regions.
On Dec 8, KPop Demon Hunters nabbed three nominations at the 2026 Golden Globes – for Best Animated Motion Picture, Best Cinematic And Box Office Achievement, and Best Original Song From A Motion Picture for the breakout hit Golden.
KPop Demon Hunters is directed by Korean-Canadian film-maker Maggie Kang and American film-maker Chris Appelhans.
The Korea Herald reported on Dec 10 that Kang received South Korea’s prestigious Order of Cultural Merit at the 2025 Korea Content Awards, which honour individuals and works that advance South Korea’s content ecosystem and its profile overseas.
Time noted that in the decade since Netflix began releasing original films, not one has been as watched as much as KPop Demon Hunters, but its success was hardly inevitable.
“It is an original story at a time of conservative reliance on familiar (intellectual property). It’s an animated film at a moment when non-franchise animation is flagging at the box office,” the magazine wrote.
“It leans heavily on specific cultural references and lacks bankable headlining stars. And it was no small risk, with a reported budget of around US$100 million (S$129 million).”
(From left) Rei Ami, Ejae and Audrey Nuna, singing voices of the members of Huntrix in KPop Demon Hunters, on the red carpet for Time's A Year In Time event in New York on Dec 10.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Dr Kyong Yoon, a professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada and co-author of the 2021 book Transnational Hallyu: The Globalisation Of Korean Digital And Popular Culture, was quoted by Time as saying that the success of KPop Demon Hunters signals “a new phase of the Korean Wave”.
This latest surge, he says, is still “controlled by Korean content creators or industry, but it’s more diversified and more diasporic”.
Music is also another key element driving the movie’s success, with Golden achieving the kind of pop virality that happens maybe once a year, according to Time.
The movie’s soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has been streamed 8.3 billion times, while Golden spent 17 weeks atop the Billboard Global 200 chart. Golden is nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2026, including Song of the Year, while the soundtrack is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
Kpop Demon Hunters’ message is another factor. The movie’s theme of self-acceptance is universal, but it also has a particular resonance for South Korean audiences.
“I was a K-pop trainee since I was 11,” says Ejae, 34, who provides the singing voice for Rumi and spent more than a decade as a trainee for South Korean entertainment agency SM Entertainment before turning to songwriting.
“It’s a very perfectionist country. That can be mentally exhausting. Always having to look perfect, have good grades. You have to be pretty, you have to be skinny. This movie says it’s okay to not be perfect because not perfect is absolutely beautiful.”
