Netflix’s smash hit KPop Demon Hunters has really taken the world by storm in the months since its bombshell release — so naturally, the door is wide open for creator Maggie Kang and her codirector Chris Appelhans to build more within this exciting world. That said, don’t expect a live-action remake of the animated sensation.
"There's so many elements of the tone and the comedy that are so suited for animation," Kang told BBC in a recent interview. "It's really hard to imagine these characters in a live action world. It would feel too grounded. So totally it wouldn't work for me."
Appelhans agreed that it feels, ultimately, limiting with the magic they are trying to craft. "One of the great things about animation is that you make these composites of impossibly great attributes. Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then freefalling through the sky,” he told the outlet. “The joy of animation is how far you can push and elevate what's possible. I remember they adapted a lot of different animes and often times, it just feels a little stilted."
So what is next for the KPop Demon Hunters Cinematic Universe (the KPDCU obviously)? "Nothing official we can talk about,” Kang explained while noting "there's definitely more we can do with these characters in this world — and whatever it will be, it will be a story that deserves to be a sequel, and it will be something that we want to see.”
It’s an interesting move considering we live in an era where Disney is chomping at the bit to produce live-action remakes of nearly all of its most popular animated films. It seems Kang and Appelhans understand something fundamental that Disney doesn’t: that there’s a level of enchantment and whimsy that simply can’t be replicated in a live-action film. After all, many live-action projects end up employing CGI and visual effects to an insane degree to achieve that same magical quality that comes so easily with animation.
The decision on Kang and Appelhans’ part is especially noble considering the film’s Oscar prospects, as it seems to be a shoe-in for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song nominations, if not wins as well.
"We tried to do something new and it was really hard and I think we're really proud of how it came out,” Appelhans said of their chances. “But if people are going to reward that, that would be awesome."
Kang added: "Just seeing people bond over this movie has been so wonderful. So all the awards would be great, but I think we feel really incredible about what the movie has done already. So it feels like we've kind of won in a way."
KPop Demon Hunters is available to stream on Netflix now, both in its standard edition and a singalong edition.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement