KPop Demon Hunters Nominated for Two Oscars

KPop Demon Hunters is getting the recognition it rightfully deserves.

The nominees for the Academy Awards was announced earlier on January 22 with KPop Demon Hunters receiving two Oscar nominations. The film was nominated for “Best Animated Feature Film” and “Golden” was nominated for “Original Song.” Notably, these were the two categories that the film won in the Golden Globes earlier this month and in the Critics Choice Awards.

The list of nominees for “Best Animated Feature Film” can be read below:

• Arco
• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

The list of nominees for “Original Song” can be read below:

• Diane Warren: Relentless – “Dear Me”
• KPop Demon Hunters – “Golden”
• Sinners – “I Lied to You”
• Viva Verdi! – “Sweet Dreams of Joy”
• Train Dreams – “Train Dreams”

Sinners broke records with 16 Oscar nominations including “Best Picture” and “Best Actor.” Notably, Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice was not nominated for any awards despite the praise it received from critics for its satirical premise.

As per Variety, Appelhans said it was “such a cool thing to realize that we’d made it and that these other incredible filmmaking communities who know the craft so well, and they know what’s hard and what’s not. To have them acknowledge it is really great.”

Kang likened it to going to a Twice concert where she heard the girls perform “Takedown,” and how the team had gone to these concerts to prepare for the film. “we had so many dreams of how do we represent this in film and we went through so many struggles and learned so much from these artists and their performances. It just felt like a full circle moment.”

Although there’s no word if “Golden” will be performed, EJAE, the songwriter and one of the voices for Huntrix, is prepared for that possibility, despite her nerves. She said she was “trying to approach it in a way where I won’t freak out… I guess I just need to practice a lot so that I won’t be nervous, but let’s see what happens.”

Premiering on Netflix on June 20, KPop Demon Hunters became a breakout hit. The film, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, became Netflix’s biggest streaming title, beating out Squid Game. A story about a group of demon hunters, who are also the world’s biggest K-Pop stars, using their voices to protect humanity from demons, had a huge impact in terms of furthering the Korean Wave along with the soundtrack, led by the hit single “Golden” which has become the anthem for the film. A sequel has been greenlit and is looking to launch sometime in 2029.

The Academy Awards take place on March 15.

Source: Variety