Oscars invite KPop Demon Hunters team to be voting members
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(From left) Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong, winners of the Best Animated Feature Film Award for KPop Demon Hunters at the 2026 Oscars.
PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL – The team behind KPop Demon Hunters will soon have a vote at the Oscars.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body behind the Academy Awards also known as the Oscars, announced on June 24 that it has invited 529 people to join for 2026, a class that includes much of the team behind 2025’s breakout animated hit.
Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans were invited, along with Ejae, the singer-songwriter who voices lead character Rumi and co-wrote the chart-topping Golden. In all, seven of the film’s contributors were invited, spanning animation and music.
Oscar nominees are considered for membership automatically in the year they are nominated, which accounts for the number of the film’s crew on 2026’s list.
KPop Demon Hunters won Oscars for animated feature and original song at the 98th Academy Awards in March.
South Korean cinema also drew several invitations.
Veteran filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, who directed I Saw The Devil and the 2023 Cannes premiere Cobweb, was invited to the directors branch. Cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung and screenwriter Lee Kyoung-mi made the list for their work on No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook’s dark comedy and South Korea’s submission for the international feature Oscar in 2026.
Korean-American actor Kenneth Choi, known from The Wolf Of Wall Street and the Spider-Man films, was also on the list.
Those who accept the invitation become full members and may vote for future Oscars. Aside from Oscar nominees, who qualify automatically, candidates must be sponsored by two existing members of the relevant branch.
Notable invitees in 2026 include Jacob Elordi (for Frankenstein), Teyana Taylor (for One Battle After Another), Jenna Ortega, Josh O’Connor and Weapons director Zach Cregger, along with new Disney chief executive Josh D’Amaro on the executive side.
By the Academy’s count, the class of 2026 is 42 per cent women, along with 56 per cent from under-represented communities and 53 per cent from 60 countries and territories outside the United States. If all invitees accept, the Academy will grow to 11,319 members, 10,338 of whom are eligible to vote. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
