KPop Demon Hunters is now the most popular Netflix film of all time, with more than 236 million views to date, and top 1 in Peru. In exclusive interview with El Peruano, KPop Demon Hunters directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans shared their thoughts about social media trends and their vision about AI in animation.
KPop Demon Hunters is directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans.
In a virtual interview with the
Official Gazette El Peruano, movie directors were visibly delighted by the global enthusiasm for the film, top 10 worldwide for 15 weeks.
"I'm kind of not surprised, honestly. The first movie I made was called Wish Dragon. It was a Chinese story set in Shanghai, but it was really popular in Latin America because it had a lot of themes, sort of generational differences and navigating the world that's changing really fast," Appelhans said.
"And I felt like when we were making this, (it) has a lot of specificity to but also a lot of very universal things about music and vulnerability and sort of finding people who can love you unconditionally, and I think when you can tell a story like that, people are going to connect to it everywhere and that's what's great about this era of filmmaking," he added.
KPop Demon Hunters is trending in social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The social media trends shown in the film became real-life phenomena.
Appelhans recalled seeing fan recreations of scenes from the Philippines, while Kang remembered a popular video from Thailand.
South Korea's traditional handbook is trending again thanks to the movie, and movie scenes recreated are getting more views each minute in social media.
According to TikTok, official hashtag has more than 1.1 million videos worldwide. In Peru, users shared cosplay, make-up, karaoke and more videos related to the K-pop idols in the movie.
Artificial intelligence in animation?
During the last weeks, hyper-realistic
AI-generated "live-action" video got millions of views in social media, also "TikTok filters" and
AI-generated animation with "extra" scenes.
About the role of technology in the creative process, Maggie Kang was clear: the essence of animation cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
"I think it's weird. Animation takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of soul. Our animators are actors. They act out the scenes and then have the characters do that do that action and it's important to do that because you need to feel what the emotion is of the moment to be able to translate it through a character on screen," Kang said.
"So, for us I think it's weird process and weird thing that doesn't really belongs in in an in an animation. Maybe somewhere down the road, it could be a tool for some other parts of the process, but in terms of animation, (AI) it's not something that belongs," she added.
What's next? When asked whether their upcoming story features demon hunters in each country, Kang smiled mysteriously: "We'll have to see."
Finally, she shared a message for Peruvian fans: "Thank you for being fans, being hunters, being in the pride. We're so grateful for all the love and support, and we're just excited as filmmakers to share this movie with everybody and excited to show more projects from each of us."
KPop Demon Hunters premiered on Netflix in June.
The film features a script by Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Kang, and Appelhans. The voice ensemble includes Arden Cho, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Ahn Hyo-seop, Yunjin Kim, Joel Kim Booster, Liza Koshy, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Byung Hun Lee.
The film features original songs performed by EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI, Andrew Choi, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, samUIL Lee, Neckwav, and Lea Salonga; with TEDDY, 24, IDO, DOMINSUK, Jenna Andrews, Stephen Kirk, Lindgren, and Ian Eisendrath among the soundtrack's producers.