KPop Demon Hunters Is Coming to The Real World In An Unprecedented Way
They’re going up, up, up and on tour.
K-pop is dominating pop culture right now, but possibly the most popular K-pop band of all of them isn’t even real. HUNTR/X, the girl group from Netflix’s massive hit animated movie KPop Demon Hunters, broke records with the success of the movie’s soundtrack, leading even to an Original Song award at the Oscars.
Netflix has already doubled down on the success of this movie with plenty of theatrical sing-along releases, the announcement of a sequel, and even a possible Broadway show, but now things are going a step further with a live tour.
Netflix recently announced that KPop Demon Hunters will hit the road with a worldwide tour, partnering with AEG Presents to “bring elements of the two-time Oscar-winning film to life in spectacular ways.” Netflix has dabbled in live experiences and pop-ups, but it’s never organized a full tour like this.
Netflix hopes to replicate the massive crowd scenes in K-Pop Demon Hunters with actual fans on tour.
Unfortunately, that’s about as specific as it gets. There’s no details about what cities will host this innovative experience, or what talent will actually perform. Sure, EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami may have provided the singing voices for HUNTR/X in the movie, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be globetrotting and performing.
Maybe that’s not something fans should expect — when you see Elsa at a Disney park, you don’t expect her to burst out into “Let It Go,” but this tour suggests the tone will be similar to the packed stadium concerts in the movie, so surely the talent will have the talent to match. Netflix does have precedent for recasting for live experiences: the Henry Creel in Broadway’s Stranger Things: The First Shadow is certainly different from the one on the TV show.
We still don’t know if the original voice actors or merely soundalikes will be performing on this world tour.
But regardless of who dons that purple braid, this is a big win for Netflix. KPop Demon Hunters has become the new franchise to build on, even if the connection is tenuous at best. For example, Discovery recently announced its annual Shark Week program will include KPop Shark Heroes, a series following two voice actors from the movie, Ken Jeong and Rei Ami, as they “reshape the perception of sharks across East Asia and around the globe.”
If this phenomenon stretches to educational reality shows about sharks, then a world-tour, no matter who is performing, is sure to be a massive hit. So far, you only can RSVP for updates, but who knows — maybe you’ll get to see HUNTR/X or even the Saja Boys in your city.
