‘K-Pop: Demon Hunters’: Sony’s animated film will premiere exclusively on Netflix

First announced in 2021, Sony Pictures Animation was announced to be developing a new animated film about female K-Pop stars who, between concerts, slay evil spirits. A year later, we reported that the movie had moved to Netflix, and now it’s been confirmed that it will land exclusively on Netflix.

Note: This post was published in April 2022 and has been updated to reflect new developments.

Variety unveiled the animated project. in March 2021 and reported that directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans were on board to direct. Kang is best known for her work in The Lego Ninjago Movie. At the same time, Applehans was involved as a writer-director on Netflix’s 2021 launch of wishing dragon last year (which is supposedly getting a sequel, though it’s unclear if it’ll be on Netflix).

Danya Jiménez and Hannah McMechan are writers on the animation project, while Aron Warner (Shrek) and Scott Berri are the producers.

Here is what is known about the history of the upcoming project:

“The story of a world-renowned K-Pop girl group as they balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as demon hunters, against a colorful backdrop of fashion, food, style and the hottest music. movement of this generation.

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Since that initial announcement, things have worked quietly behind the scenes. As Variety points out, no release schedule had been announced at the time.

That’s where we come to Netflix. Two recently recorded filings link the film to Netflix. Multiple documents suggest that Netflix will take over the release of the film. In recent months, Netflix has also made similarly worded submissions for Nimona, which was officially unveiled to be headed to Netflix in 2023.

Of course, even if the film had a theatrical run, it would have appeared on Netflix, albeit only for a limited time, given that Sony and Netflix have a general first-window deal for all Sony movies (both live-action and of action). animation) in the United States in 2022.

Sony Pictures Animation did not respond to a request for comment.

However, in February 2023, Sony’s film chief confirmed that the project was with Netflix. in a interview with Business InsiderTom Rothman was talking about the first window deal Netflix had with Sony and added:

“We did some direct-to-platform movies for them. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. And we are making a great K-Pop animated musical.”

The move to Netflix wouldn’t be completely out of the ordinary. In 2021, Netflix has partnered with Sony Animation on three projects to help bolster its list of movies affected by COVID-19 delays. the dragon of wishes, Alive, and The Mitchells against the machines all were sold to Netflix. The latter was a huge hit for Netflix, even earning him an Oscar nomination.