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KPop Demon Hunters

Animated feature (2025)

Film & TV United States Hall No. 46

Profile

Why they shine

KPop Demon Hunters began as one woman's note to herself. Maggie Kang, a Korean-Canadian storyboard artist, wanted a story that felt as culturally specific as the K-pop she grew up with, and the result, a musical fantasy about a girl group whose singing holds a barrier between the living and the dead, became the most-watched film in Netflix history. It took two Oscars on 15 March 2026: Best Animated Feature, and Best Original Song for Golden, the first K-pop song ever to win one. Kang became the first filmmaker of Korean descent to take the animated category and spoke of the children who had grown up without seeing themselves in a film like this.

Directors: Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans
Release: 2025
Country: United States
Oscars: 2 wins from 2 nominations
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Signature: Concert lighting, K-pop staging, Korean mythology

Record

Honor record

Academy Award for Best Animated Feature

2026 · Mar 15, 2026

Dolby Theatre, Hollywood

Netflix's most-watched film of all time beat Disney's Zootopia 2 and four other nominees. Co-director Maggie Kang became the first filmmaker of Korean descent to win the category, and the first Asian woman to take it. Her speech was aimed at the audiences who had waited years for a film like this: this is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.

Academy Award for Best Original Song

2026 · Mar 15, 2026

Dolby Theatre, Hollywood

Golden, the film's anthem of self-possession sung by EJAE as Rumi, became the first K-pop song to win an Oscar, and the first to win the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The award went to EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick and the Black Label team of Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park.

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