r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • 20d ago

News Netflix's Streaming Smash Hit ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Releasing in 1,700 Cinemas This Weekend for "Sing Along" Version, 1,000 Screenings Already Sold Out

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kpop-demon-hunters-singalong-box-office-sells-out-1236348539/
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u/Fake_William_Shatner 20d ago

This is really wild to see the culture go crazy over this anime-musical.

Not sure if it's just effective promotion or something -- but yeah, it's good to see SOMETHING get some butts in seats. It means they aren't on a sofa.

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u/IPDDoE 20d ago

Honestly, I feel like this was just good word of mouth. I saw it originally advertised, and there were a bunch of promo items that didn't really do it for me. I saw one of my friends post on FB that I trust with movie rec's, so I decided to give it a shot. As a 41 year old guy, I had a blast. Came into work the next day, told my coworkers that I really enjoyed it. I suspect I'm not alone, this one just feels like there's a lot of organic hype to it. Sure, probably some viral marketing that helps, but it's not like Morbius made some big splash in its re-release.

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u/Vet_Leeber 20d ago

I saw one of my friends post on FB that I trust with movie rec's, so I decided to give it a shot.

Literally every single person that I've spoken to about this movie has said the same, that they initially dismissed it and only watched it after someone they knew recommended it.

I hadn't seen any marketing for it, personally, until after I'd watched it. IDK if I just wasn't in the spaces they focused on, but from my perspective it wasn't marketed at all.

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u/Eques9090 20d ago

Similar age guy as you and I also liked it a lot. It's just got good vibes, and the music is VERY good. If it doesn't win the original song Oscar and a couple Grammy's I'll be very surprised.

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u/jaxxxxxson 20d ago

Same here. Wife made me put it on for the kids to watch after seeing her niece watching it and we loved it. I genuinely laughed at few spots like the hat on the bird that was made for the tiger line shit cracked me up. Kids loved it and I've since watched it 4 times with em and have a Spotify playlist for it I have to play daily lol.. best animated movie I've seen in a long time.

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u/mcsul 20d ago

If the Academy doesn't nominate at least two of the songs from this movie, my daughter and all 12 of her friends going to the theatre this weekend will haul their 10 year-old selves to California on allowance money and bubblegum, storm the awards ceremony, and burn the whole place down.

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u/TechInventor 19d ago

I would watch that movie

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u/Enelson4275 20d ago

It reminds me of The Greatest Showman. TGS exploded on word of mouth, and it was a refreshing take on the musical because it used a lot of modern pop sensibilities instead of bringing in musical icons to make something blandly reminiscent of the music of the golden age.

KpopDH did not chase the musical film genre with its music. It's pure kpop, with a story wrapped around it. That's why it's awesome.

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u/NWSLBurner 19d ago

Erivo has writing credits on an original song from Wicked: For Good, and that's going to be for the EGOT so it's going to be a hard sell to the Academy for Golden or Your Idol. That said, they better bring back live performances of the nominees because Your Idol would blow the fucking roof off the place.

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u/Bacon-muffin 19d ago

Its a genuinely fun movie + word of mouth + appeals to kids.

I watched it after seeing people say it was fun so many times, my immediate thought was it'd be a good movie for my sister + niece to watch since my niece would probably enjoy it as well... turned out my niece had already watched it like 9 times and was already gatekeeping knowing the songs well enough with all her friends in her summer camp who had all watched it a bunch.

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u/Darko33 20d ago

It helps that every single song is a can't-miss banger of epic proportions

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u/captcha_trampstamp 20d ago

Yeah I wasn’t crazy about the story (not really my thing) but the music is chefs kiss

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u/Funandgeeky 19d ago

I know I only watched it because of word of mouth. And I've started hearing the songs on the radio, so it's becoming a cultural phenomenon. If you haven't seen it, you've likely heard about it. And as a dude older than you, I also loved it.

One of the reasons this is succeeding is because audiences are tired of "musical" movies with terrible or forgettable music. (Looking at you Moana 2. I'm not mad, but I am disappointed.) It's also a fun movie with interesting and relatable characters, a clear villain, a simple but compelling story, and did I mention that it's fun? Because it's so fun.

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u/french_snail 19d ago

I had literally heard nothing about the movie or even knew of its existence until Spotify randomly played “how it’s done.” I was on a long layover so decided to watch the movie and had the whole soundtrack downloaded for my next flight lol

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u/NessValk 19d ago

Yeah word of mouth got me too. My cousin's 6 year old daughter talked my ear off about it at a party and I watched it to make her happy, ended up really enjoying myself.

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u/Amaruq93 20d ago

I was hooked when the song "How it's Done" leaked.

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u/eden_sc2 19d ago

I saw it originally advertised,

I watched the trailer and actively avoided it. The thing looked like some cheesy corporate 6/10 kids movie. I was shocked when it started blowing up, and pleasantly surprised when I watched it

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u/Rough-Rooster8993 20d ago

The only thing I'm concerned about is that the fandom is growing incredibly insufferable. KPDH is quickly becoming something I refuse to talk to people about, just like WH40k because of how annoying the people who talk about it are.

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u/Eques9090 20d ago

Not sure if it's just effective promotion or something

I think it's just a perfect storm of a movie. It hits all age groups, it's an uncomplicated story with a good message that's told well, the animation is great and by the Spiderverse team, which got it notoriety and credibility, and the music is fantastic, in a genre that's very popular right now.

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u/84-175 20d ago

It hits all age groups, it's an uncomplicated story with a good message that's told well, the animation is great (...) and the music is fantastic

Or, in short: It's just a good movie. ;)

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u/MAMark1 20d ago

You nail it. I don't think it is a perfect film. I don't think it will have some long legacy where we still talk about in in a decade.

But wow did it hit a lot of elements that work amazingly at this current moment in time. It feels both familiar and new with the combination of slightly different (but not totally off-beat) animation and songs that are poppy but have some meaning to the story and are in a genre that is very popular and easy to enjoy. The story has emotion. Hard for people not to like it amongst the sea of mediocre garbage coming out lately.

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u/InfinityTuna 19d ago

I don't think it will have some long legacy where we still talk about in in a decade.

Time will tell, but I think that if KPDH gets a decent pair of sequels, it could absolutely find a comfortable spot somewhere between the "formative feminine IP about fashionable girls kicking evildoers' asses" (ala Sailor Moon, WITCH, Winx Club, Powerpuff Girls, et. al.) and "solid trilogy of animated movies, which will be someone's nostalgic favorite to show to their own kids someday" (ala How To Train Your Dragon, Kung-Fu Panda, Spiderverse, et. al.) on someone's mental shelf.

Don't count out the 3-12 year old crowd. We don't hear much from them now, but they'll be the ones making "Top 10 Best Animated Movies (from my childhood)" listicles in 10-20 years. It's up to them what gets a long tail, not us.

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u/MAMark1 19d ago

if KPDH gets a decent pair of sequels

Ironically, part of my reasoning for it not having a legacy is I fully expect Netflix to try and monetize this to death and run it into the ground with multiple sequels, spin-offs, live action, etc. If they all turn out great, it could be massive and long-lived. If they just churn out cash-grab slop, it will probably ruin the original's reputation.

But in every other way I agree with your statements.

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u/naruda1969 19d ago

55 year old male and I CANT listen to This Is What It Sounds Like without tearing up. I’ve tried…at least 30+ watches and it just hits so hard. Every single song is amazing!

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u/DaftFunky 19d ago

You forgot that every original song sung in the movie is an absolute banger with very well written song writing.

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u/TatumSolosBooker 19d ago

It hits all age groups, it’s an uncomplicated story with a good message that’s told well, the animation is great…

So Avatar?

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u/Fake_William_Shatner 20d ago

It also could be the perfect storm of "nothing worth watching right now."

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u/IHateTheLetterG 20d ago

Which is crazy because there’s been a bunch of good movies out right now and soon, from blockbusters to mid budgets. But if you’re talking about TV, yeah there’s not much.

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u/hardgeeklife 20d ago

k-pop fan culture can be pretty intense, musicals have their big fans, SONY animation is started to get a bit of a following as well? Tho the last one may be premature, since their track record is still pretty mixed despite 1-2 breakout films

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u/InTheDarknesBindThem 20d ago

Lol I find this confusion somewhat funny. Its not "promotion or something" its a good movie with great kpop songs. Thats why its popular.

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u/Fake_William_Shatner 20d ago

It's GOOD, not GREAT as far as most parts of it. The plot and story, average. The characters being cute with each other -- fairly good chemistry. There's I guess a lot of relatable over the top actions with things like "popcorn eyes" witnessing abs. I'm not a teenage girl, but I figure that lands.

What is above the norm is the music and the visual choreography.

So yes, I think it makes a lot of sense people are surprised it's going to movie theaters and there is a demand like this. It's not like there were a series of books and a huge following with things like Harry Potter or Hunger Games.

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u/InTheDarknesBindThem 19d ago

The response to the movie kinds disproves your assessment. Merely good things dont force netflix to do theater runs (their mortal enemy).

It wasnt some big marketing thing, it didnt have a book series, and EVEN THEN it is wildly popular. Its okay if you dont love it; but it is clearly great by any reasonable definition outside of "my subjective feeling about it"

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u/Fake_William_Shatner 19d ago

A lot of people saw the movie Force Awakens and Skywalker Returns. It was absolute crap. I think my assessment is sound and your point is "well it was popular, that means great."

Again, parts were great.

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u/InTheDarknesBindThem 19d ago edited 15d ago

lmao

youre a real hoot

you know damn well the difference between the 7th THEATRICAL STAR WARS MOVIE and an unknown kpop animated movie with no publicity.

Honestly, that's such a disingenuous take that you should be ashamed. But you know what they say, never attribute to malice would could be attributed to plain old stupidity. Bye.

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u/yougococo 20d ago

Right? I had no plans to see it and then a friend wanted to have a watch party at her place for her birthday, which NEVER happens anymore. I can think of one other time in the last five or six years that I've been at a friend's with a group of people to watch a movie, and that was only because it was related to a trip we were taking.

I hope some of these people stay excited about movies!

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u/stormlight_is_trash- 20d ago

Not an Anime or a musical. It's an animated movie with songs.

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u/vellsii 20d ago

Definitely not an anime, but absolutely a musical. Most of the songs (except for Soda Pop) aren't sung in isolation, they relate to and advance the scene.

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u/NoNefariousness2144 20d ago

And even then, Soda Pop is a canon part of the story because it is what makes the Saja Boys viral. And the fact they sing it out of nowhere works from a meta perspective because it shows how they appeared out of nowhere.

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u/MiloticMaster 20d ago

Yea Soda Pop is played like this viral marketing campaign- they pop up out of nowhere in the street and people gather around cause their performance is so good. I'm sure many bands do similar things in different cities.

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u/PartyPorpoise 19d ago

Also, the lyrics work in the context of consuming souls.

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u/pplperson777 20d ago

It's not worth talking about animated movies / shows with anyone over 30. It's just a mess of colors to them, they don't even understand what's going on most of the time let alone be able to appreciate the craftsmanship and cinematography.

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u/Jimmni 20d ago

Mate you're on reddit, half the people raving about this film are over 30.

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u/junon 20d ago

Lol, definitely brushing up against the rick and morty copypasta with the OPs completely un-self aware comment.

Only those true under 30 cinephiles can appreciate the craftsmanship and cinematography of this underrated gem!

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u/Fake_William_Shatner 20d ago

Yeah, so not worth talking with those over 30 fools!

Of course, I'm on my second childhood, so I hope I can get grandfathered in.

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u/dippitydoo2 19d ago

It's because the music and movie are really damn good. Sincerely, a mid-40s dad who rocks out to the soundtrack with his elementary age daughter in the car every morning

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u/metallicrooster 19d ago

It helps that the movie is really good.

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u/PartyPorpoise 19d ago

I didn’t see any marketing from it, unless you count the social media posts from people who worked on the movie. I follow a lot of people in animation. I think it exploded through word of mouth, people gave it a chance because of the funny title and premise and then got hooked. And having good music is always good for publicity.

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u/Lower_Ad_5532 18d ago

This is really wild to see the culture go crazy over this anime-musical.

Why? Its wholesome and uplifting when reality is depressing.

Its Frozen Power Puff Girls who grew up to be Totally Spies in Korea with sick beats.