“We’re goin’ up, up, up, it’s our moment,” Rumi sings in the song “Golden,” featured in the wildly popular film “KPop Demon Hunters.”
The same can be said of this animated musical fantasy film, as it went all the way up, becoming the most streamed movie on Netflix of all time. “Golden” is also topping charts as the highest streamed song in the United States according to Apple Music, triggering Tik-Tok dances, lip-syncs and 261 million views on YouTube.
After being released on June 20, 2025, the film went straight to streaming on Netflix, but fans demanded it be given a run in theaters. A sing-along version was in theaters for a short run on August 23rd-24th, making an estimated $20 million. Surprisingly, the movie’s singers aren’t even a KPop band, they’re individual Korean vocalists, separate from the film’s speaking voice actors.
KPop isn’t typically my jam. The only exposure I’ve had was during Covid, listening to BTS just because I had some friends who liked it. Now I can proudly say I know all the words to “Dynamite” and “Butter.”
I pressed play on “KPop Demon Hunters” and was greeted by the distant sounds of a cheering stadium growing louder and louder, and suddenly I was in that stadium, surrounded by screaming fans, waiting to see who would come onto the stage. Bright colors, pop-stars in elaborate costumes and an infectious beat spilled into my room.
The film opens with Rumi, Mira and Zoey in the band “Huntr/X” jumping from an airplane onto the stage, singing with all their might, while simultaneously annihilating red and green demons. The crowd thinks it is all part of the show, when in reality these girls are demon hunters.
After the show, the girls seem to be taking a vacation from stardom, but the lead singer, Rumi, launches their new single “Golden” and the audience wonders if is she so fame-hungry that she can’t even take a break? But as the movie unfolds it becomes evident that Remi is hiding her true identity as being half-demon herself. This is revealed when a team of demons masquerading as hot boy band “The Saja Boys” seeks to destroy the Huntr/X’s. Remi believes that once they win the International Idol Awards, her demon markings will disappear and demons will never again penetrate the Honmoon.
Director Maggie Kang, who has previously worked on films such as “The LEGO Ninjago Movie,” “Rise of the Guardians” and “Puss in Boots”, started creating the film in 2018 and pitched the idea to Sony in 2021, taking inspiration from how BTS was like a light in a time of darkness during the pandemic.
In an interview with Time Magazine, Kang expressed she wanted to “see something culturally set in Korea and to really embrace that.” She hadn’t seen something like that in Western animations. She wanted to mix Korean myths, like demons, with the musical electricity of KPop, and the result was something that even adults fell in love with.
When I came back to my Christian university this year after summer break, most of the people I talked to already had weekend plans. They were going to watch “KPop Demon Hunters.” What a strange name, I thought — what a strange thing to be popular here.
But when I finally watched it for myself, I understood the film’s popularity. I detected Christian themes of demon annihilation, redemption and sacrifice. When the girl band tries to make a diss track about the “Saja Boys,” Rumi refuses to sing it because it is all about hate, depravity and eternal damnation for the demons.
In an age when diss tracks are all the rage (like “Euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar and “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter) it is refreshing to see a film that advocates for respect and kindness. “Demon Hunters” outlines a way of dealing with your enemies through love by searching for the source of what makes them ‘evil’ and argues for the truly Christian quality of forgiveness and refusing to let a person’s faults define them.
The main character Rumi chooses to learn the story of the demon who leads the boy band, Jinu, and when he admits to abandoning his family for personal gain, she believes he can be better and be rid of his demon markings as well.
These aspects of “Demon Hunters” are the reason it resonates with the world. It may be portraying niche aspects of a foreign culture, but its message says something profound about the culture we live in today and perhaps is a wake-up call for those of us who have become desensitized to the self-centered Hollywood culture.
“KPop Demon Hunters” is a film that shows how powerful music can be to unite people. It is a masterful and moving reminder of the commandment that we are to love our enemies.
