Growing up as a Korean immigrant in 1990s Toronto, Maggie Kang kept her love of K-pop to herself.
鈥淚 remember hiding my K-pop albums from my white friends because they thought it was weird and silly,鈥 recalls Kang, who moved from Seoul to Canada at age five and was raised in the North York area.
鈥淏ut I was like, 鈥楴o, this is great.鈥欌
In a neighbourhood with few other Koreans, she rarely saw her culture reflected around her.
Now, she鈥檚 helping amplify it worldwide.
Her debut animated film 鈥淜Pop Demon Hunters鈥 鈥 produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix 鈥 has become a global smash, pulling in massive streaming numbers while its songs top Billboard charts.
Last week, Netflix said the musical fantasy 鈥 which follows a K-pop girl group that moonlights as demon slayers 鈥 was the first of its original movies to hit a new viewership peak in its fifth week. Its soundtrack also became the highest-charting of the year, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in mid-July.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty wild. You don't ever know what the reaction is going to be, really, when you're making these things,鈥 Kang says in a video call from Los Angeles.
鈥淲e were very hopeful it would find its audience. It feels like it has and they really latched onto it. Now it鈥檚 spreading to other areas that we didn't think it was going to get to鈥. We're very happy and excited and overwhelmed.鈥
Written and co-directed by Kang, 鈥淜Pop Demon Hunters鈥 centres on K-pop trio Huntr/x 鈥 pronounced "Huntrix" 鈥 who fight demons by night and dominate charts by day. When band members Mira, Zoey and Rumi face off against demon boy band the Saja Boys, Rumi is forced to confront her true identity.
鈥淚 think the themes of hiding parts of yourself and being afraid to show your true self to people, these days they鈥檙e more relevant than ever,鈥 Kang reflects.
鈥淲e tend to hide behind our online personas as well, and so I think even young kids can resonate with that.鈥
Kang studied animation at Sheridan College and was recruited to DreamWorks in her third year, working as a story artist on films including 2011鈥檚 鈥淧uss in Boots鈥 and 2016鈥檚 鈥淜ung Fu Panda 3.鈥
When the opportunity came to direct her own film for Sony, she knew she wanted to tap into her roots.
"I was like, 'Okay, let me think of something that's Korean because I haven't seen that before," says Kang, who spent her summers back in Korea growing up.
She considered exploring Korean mythology and demonology, but also had another concept involving K-pop.
鈥淢y husband was like, 鈥榃hy don't you just put those together?鈥欌 she says.
鈥淥ddly, it really fit 鈥 the idea of using music to fight demons naturally tied into Korean shamanism.鈥
The animation production was largely handled by Sony Pictures Imageworks studios in Vancouver and Montreal, which played a key role in crafting the vibrant, high-octane visuals.
Kang says she and co-director Chris Appelhans didn鈥檛 just want the music by their fictional groups to be part of the soundtrack 鈥 it had to be deeply integrated into the story.
It also had to slap.
鈥淲e knew the music had to stand on its own and be able to compete with all the pop songs out there, because K-pop is so good,鈥 she says.
They enlisted a powerhouse team of producers, including The Black Label co-founder Teddy Park, known for shaping the sounds of Blackpink and Taeyang; BTS collaborators Lindgren, Stephen Kirk, and Jenna Andrews; and Ian Eisendrath, who worked on Broadway hit 鈥淐ome from Away.鈥
鈥淥ur songs had to be bops, but they also had to tell a story,鈥 says Kang.
鈥淭hat added another layer of challenges to the songwriting.鈥
Their work hit all the right notes. This month, Huntr/x鈥檚 鈥淕olden鈥 became the first track by a fictional act to top the Billboard Global 200 鈥 edging out summer hits such as Alex Warren鈥檚 鈥淥rdinary鈥 and Justin Bieber鈥檚 鈥淒aisies."
Meanwhile, Saja Boys鈥 鈥淵our Idol鈥 hit No.鈥1 on the U.S. Spotify chart, surpassing BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop act in the platform鈥檚 history.
鈥淲e needed the music to be chart-topping 鈥 but now to see it happen is like, 鈥榃hoa, what is happening?鈥欌 Kang says.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I ever really thought that it was going to happen.鈥
Kang says she鈥檇 鈥渄efinitely鈥 consider expanding the 鈥淜Pop Demon Hunters鈥 universe.
鈥淭here's a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of undeveloped ideas in the movie that we had to omit because of length. I know fans really want the fuller backstories of Mira and Zoey, and we did put those in at one point, but ultimately, this movie was a story about Rumi, so we had to take it out,鈥 says Kang.
鈥淲e have a lot to show still.鈥
But for now, she鈥檚 taking a moment to soak it all in: the love, the milestones and the cultural shift she once didn鈥檛 think she鈥檇 ever see.
鈥淚 feel very proud, just seeing Korean culture being in the spotlight. I never thought this would happen,鈥 she says.
鈥淎s somebody who grew up when Korea wasn't that cool, to see it come this far is really amazing.鈥
This report by 好色tvwas first published July 29, 2025.
