“Not everything has to be live action” - Fans appreciate KPop Demon Hunters’ creators for turning down the idea of a real-life adaptation of the film

Kpop Demon Hunters’ director Maggie Kang has officially confirmed that there will be no live adaptation of the movie. A couple of days ago, she appeared for an interview with the BBC and her co-director, Chris Applehans. There, she confirmed that the movie's tone and comedy are more suited for animation.

"It's really hard to imagine these characters in a live action world. It would feel too grounded. So totally it wouldn't work for me."

The co-director backed her statement, saying one of the main things about animation is being able to make “impossibly great attributes.”

“Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then freefalling through the sky.” He explained.

He even gave the example of anime being adapted into real-life versions. From his words, it was clear that he was more in favor of animations being left untouched, as some real-life adaptations can make the shows a “little stilted.”

With these revelations, the continually arising rumors about KPop Demon Hunters’ adaptation were put to rest. Fans found themselves in favor of these two directors and expressed how the movie is good as it is.

In a considerably long tweet, one fan remarked,

"Honestly, without animation, the movie would lose a lot of its charm, since because it's animated, all these moments exaggerating the girls' actions/expressions can be made, and it's not something you can recreate well in live action. Not everything has to be live action."

The other fans' comments can be seen as follows:

senti-missy 🍂 MET JADE

@thebugsmeow

GOOD, finally an animated movie that understands it’s best as an animated movie

Jaydene🍒

@itsjaydenex

Rare case of creators actually protecting their own work from hollywood

LifeOfPrince

@LifeOfPrinc

Animation carries a kind of magic live action will never replicate, and that’s exactly why this decision makes sense. The way these characters move, talk, and exist fits a world where logic bends and emotions hit louder than realism ever could.

Many fans had intellectual points of view on this rejection of a live adaptation:

Words

@xwordz

That's a sane decision. it's technically a smart move as the world’s not ready to see real people pulling off those anime-level fight scenes without breaking something or the other

Elvhari

@elvhari

Yes finally! Live action can never replicate the funny expressions that they original have

Azh

@AshmakAshmakg7

Honestly makes sense some stories just breathe in animation. Translating that level of tone and comedy to live-action could totally lose the charm that makes it special.

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Maggie Kang comments and KPop Demon Hunters being the most-watched movie of all time on Netflix

In the interview mentioned above, the directors spoke more about what was in their hearts about the movie. Maggie Kang, a Korean-Canadian, said that her main aim behind making the movie was connecting people and bringing them to K-pop. She also mentioned that the movie had done much better than their expectations; hence, they wanted nothing more from it.

KPop Demon Hunters premiered on Netflix on June 20, 2025. It’s an animated musical fantasy film about the girl-group HUNTR/X, who lead double lives as demon hunters. From the moment it dropped, it took off like wildfire.

By late July, it had already become Netflix’s most-watched original animated film ever, grabbing millions of views in just weeks. It eventually racked up 325.1 million views after its 91-day run on the platform, making its place in streaming history. This record surpassed Squid Game, which previously held the record with 265.2 million views for 4 years.

Kpop Demon Hunters' songs, like Soda Pop, Golden, Your Idol, and more, also take over the global music charts. Golden claimed the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks. The influence and the craze of the songs were so much that people from all around the world re-enacted them by doing dancing and singing challenges. Even numerous popular K-pop idols took on the challenges. This enabled their respective fan bases to get more in touch with the K-pop Demon Hunters movie.

Now, the media and the movie's creators are also talking about the possibility of the movie being nominated for the Oscars. Since KPop Demon Hunters have created an influence worldwide, they are eager to see if the movie gets official recognition at the prestigious awards ceremony.