Ted Sarandos hails KPop Demon Hunters as Netflix’s animated breakout

KPop Demon Hunters is an animated film that delves into the musical fantasy genre. Directed by duo Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the film was released on Netflix on June 20, 2025. The story was written by Kang, who also penned the screenplay with Appelhans, Hannah McMechan, and Danya Jimenez. Here is the official synopsis as per Letterboxd,

When K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey aren’t selling out stadiums, they’re using their secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats.

Recently, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos showered praise on the film and called it an animated breakout for them.

Ted Sarandos praises KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters was released on June 20, 2025, and has met with positive critical response. It currently holds a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Recently, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos spoke to Deadline about the film and praised it. He said,

"[It] is a phenomenal success out of the gate. One of the things that I’m excited, really proud of the team over, is [that it’s] original animation — not a sequel, not a live action remake. Original animation … is very tough and has been struggling for years [and] we’re super thrilled about that."

He further added,

“Getting it right matters. The storytelling matters. The innovation and animation itself matters. And the fact that people are in love with this film and in love with the music from this film, that will keep it going for a long time. So we’re really thrilled. And now the next beat is, where does it go from here?”

Sarandos continued to speak about the film and its music, which had topped several charts. He said,

"[The film's music] will drive fandom for these fictional K-pop bands that we have, but more importantly, for the song Golden and for the song Soda Pop. These are enormous hits and they all came from a film that’s available only on Netflix. So we’re really excited that we can pierce the culture with original animated features.”

The film is produced by Michelle Wong and follows a K-pop girl band whose members are secretly demon hunters. They are at loggerheads with a boy band that consists of boys who are secretly demons. The voice actors of the film include Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim and Joel Kim Booster.

KPop Demon Hunters is currently streaming on Netflix.