KPop Demon Hunters Wins Two Oscars, 500M Netflix Views
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- KPop Demon Hunters won two Oscars—best animated feature and best original song—at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
- Netflix reported the film became its most‑watched title, with more than 500 million global views.
- Maggie Kang co‑directed the American production, which features Korean and Korean‑American voice actors and draws heavily on Korean aesthetics and traditional culture.
- Youn Sung‑Eun told Yonhap that the film’s sweep of the Golden Globes, Grammys and Oscars shows global audiences recognize its artistic merit beyond popularity.
- Lee Dong‑jin said that even if the South Korean government tried to buy a prime‑time slot, the Oscars performance would have been impossible.
- South Korea recorded 18.9 million foreign visitors in 2025, an all‑time high that officials partly attribute to tourists seeking locations featured in the film.
Why it matters: The Oscars victories elevate South Korea’s cultural export profile, feeding a surge in tourism that hit a record 18.9 million visitors and reinforcing Netflix’s dominance with 500 million views, while the snub of the songwriters’ speeches underscores ongoing inequities in award‑show recognition.
