As darkness rises around the Namsan Tower, the iconic monument in Seoul, South Korea, people of all ages gather around five singers known internationally as the Saja Boys. Everyone was hypnotized by them. As they started singing, Latin chants surrounded the busy hall of the Tower and the music transitioned to a mix of both Korean and English. The audience was only hypnotized by the music, stuck in a trance somewhere between astonishment and fear. The concert may have lasted forever, if the rival band HUNTR/X had not sang their own song in retaliation to the Saja Boys’ dangerous ritual. Despite being a part of an animated musical-adventure movie geared towards young children, this scene from the movie KPop Demon Hunters has become a worldwide sensation for fans of all ages. 

Since its release on June 20, 2025, the film KPop Demon Hunters has amassed a total of 276 million views on Netflix, making it the streaming service’s most popular movie of all time,  securing the title of Netflix’s most watched movie ever from its previous record-holder Red Notice with 230.9 million views. That too, within the span of  sixty-seven days upon the movie’s release. Viewers from around the world praised the movie for its catchy music, fascinating plot, and accurate representation of Korean culture. The film follows the fictional K-pop band HUNTR/X with singers Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. The band, however, far from ordinary, uses the strength of their music to fight the demon world, keeping demons away from Earth. The girls reach a conflict when five demons form an opposing band, the Saja Boys, in an attempt to take over the world once and for all. What follows is a fun and colorful movie discussing themes of identity and teamwork. The student population of Maggie Walker, no different from fans around the world, watched, loved, and rewatched the movie that would become the defining movie of the summer of 2025.

One of the most fascinating aspects of KPop Demon Hunters is its ability to captivate audiences even after the movie comes to a close. Four of the film’s fun, energizing, and arguably addictive songs shortly earned themselves a place in Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten. Currently, “Golden” holds the No. 1 spot, “Your Idol” sits at No. 4, “Soda Pop” is at No. 5, and “How It’s Done” holds at No. 8. 

Some viewers argue there are too many songs in the movie, and they take away from the quality animation. Others believe the songs are the spotlight of the movie, and they wish there was more music. For Mrs. Paturel, the French teacher at MLWGS, the songs felt perfect. She said that the movie had “just the right amount of songs” and that “it was an appropriate balance…There was enough music because it was about K-pop, but…it didn't feel like a musical where everything was in song for no reason other than to be a song.”

For some Dragons, just listening to the music isn’t enough, and rewatching the film seemed exciting and unrepetitive. Sage Lindmar, ‘28, “would definitely watch it [Kpop Demon Hunters] again!” “I feel like [the movie] wasn't like the majority of modern musicals in that every sentence was a song, but rather it used the music to further the plot while also including a good amount of non-musical dialogue. For me, that was really appealing, but you can also just tell the animators put so much work into creating a detailed film experience. There's just so much "rewatchability" from being able to catch hidden animated details and getting to enjoy the songs!”

Mrs. Paturel also absolutely loved KPop Demon Hunters. However, she did discuss how she wished the film dived deeper into the backstories of some characters. “I felt like they [the filmwriters] built a world that was really interesting and had a concept that was really interesting that I just wanted to explore more, like the backstory of some of those main characters. I'm hoping that they do more of that in the second movie.” Paturel is referencing the two confirmed sequels of KPop Demon Hunters, announced by Netflix towards the end of summer. The first film proposed layers of plot that could easily be developed to create an expansive franchise. 

In an Interview with Variety, director Maggie Kang addresses this concern: “Obviously, there’s a lot of questions that are left unanswered and areas that are not explored, and we had to do that because there’s only so much movie you could tell in 85 minutes. This was Rumi’s story, and we have backstories for Zoey and Mira – ones that we actually put in the movie, but it just kind of rejected it. It just wasn’t the movie for those stories.” While the backstories of the other two protagonists, Zoey and Mira, were mentioned, they were certainly not explored in depth. Kang’s interview provides hope for more lore to come in the next two sequels.

Sources from Fortune, Forbes, Polygon, and Variety