![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/9c694dee519f86f3e5ec97f1afcd0dbec4-kpop-demon-oscars.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Keeping pace with Hollywood\u2019s perpetual awards horserace. Sign up for the newsletter here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Photo: Netflix\n <\/p>\n You know something special is happening when Netflix starts to crow about a theatrical release. This weekend, the streamer is sending<\/a> a singalong version of its summer sensation KPop Demon Hunters into more than 1,700 theaters \u2014 and bragging that many showings are already sold-out. Consider it a victory lap for the animated musical, which has spent the past two months racking up achievements at a historic rate. KPop Demon Hunters just became the second-most-watched<\/a> Netflix movie of all time. Its fictional trio, Huntr\/x, were the first girl group to top the \u201cBillboard Hot 100\u201d (with the song \u201cGolden\u201d) since Destiny\u2019s Child. The success of the tracks \u201cYour Idol<\/a>\u201d and \u201cSoda Pop\u201d also made the movie\u2019s soundtrack<\/a> the first to have three hits in the top ten of the \u201cBillboard Hot 100\u201d since Waiting to Exhale. Not bad for a children\u2019s film that dropped on streaming in late June with little advance buzz.<\/p>\n This is a cultural phenomenon the likes of which we haven\u2019t seen since Encanto, so it\u2019s worth asking the question: Can KPop Demon Hunters follow in that film\u2019s footsteps and turn tremendous virality into Oscar gold?<\/p>\n As always, we must first discuss timing. Encanto started popping over the holidays, right as the Oscar race was kicking into gear. KPop Demon Hunters, by contrast, will have to sustain its momentum over the next seven months. But that extended window can provide its own benefits. Disney seemed like it was caught slightly off guard by the success of Encanto; by the time \u201cWe Don\u2019t Talk About Bruno\u201d became a sensation, the studio had committed to \u201cDos Oruguitas\u201d as the film\u2019s Best Original Song entry. On Demon Hunters, Netflix has the benefit of running a campaign knowing it\u2019s already accomplished the hardest part of any awards push: making voters aware of the film.<\/p>\n This is also familiar territory for the streaming giant, which traditionally does well in the Animated Feature race \u2014 Netflix has had one of its films nominated every year since 2020. (Though only the 2022 entry, Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Pinocchio, has won.) Minorly complicating matters is the fact that KPop Demon Hunters is not Netflix\u2019s only horse in the race. The streamer has two other animated contenders coming: the Roald Dahl adaptation The Twits and the children\u2019s adventure film In Your Dreams. Still, given the way that Demon Hunters has broken out, the streamer would be remiss not to give it a major push, and I\u2019m told that it will.<\/p>\n While predictions made in August should be taken with an entire shaker of salt, the Animated Feature race this year looks crackable. Elio<\/a> didn\u2019t light the world on fire<\/a>, and The Bad Guys 2 must hope to succeed where its predecessor failed. Fall will bring more heavy hitters like Zootopia 2, which will challenge the conventional wisdom that Toy Story is the only series allowed to win the trophy more than once. Out of Asia comes Mirai filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda\u2019s Scarlet, plus the Chinese box-office sensation Ne Zha 2<\/a>, which A24 is handling in the States. Neon is confident in the French film Arco. Nothing is guaranteed, but it looks like there could be a seat or two available.<\/p>\n Still, were Demon Hunters to get in, it could be fighting against a prevailing trend in the Animated Feature race. Last season, Flow<\/a> was the little Latvian movie that upset The Wild Robot<\/a>. The year before, Hayao Miyazaki\u2019s The Boy and the Heron<\/a> triumphed over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse<\/a>. You could certainly read that as a bad sign; in each case, the more commercial entry lost out to the artier one. But you could also see those wins as an increasingly global Academy embracing international contenders over homegrown ones. In that light, KPop Demon Hunters may be well-positioned as a compromise candidate. The film\u2019s blend of Korean and North American influences reflects a casually borderless pop landscape; its success, as a New York Times op-ed<\/a> recently put it, is \u201cproof that we are living in a post-multicultural world.\u201d Don\u2019t discount, either, the power of name recognition. For many Academy members, their primary exposure to the world of animation comes through kids and grandkids. As we saw with Encanto\u2019s victory, this summer\u2019s repeat viewings could pay off for KPop Demon Hunters in the spring.<\/p>\n There\u2019s another race, too, where Demon Hunters is hoping for gold \u2014 literally. Following the film\u2019s release, Netflix confirmed<\/a> that it would submit \u201cGolden,\u201d a cathartic ode to self-affirmation, as its Best Original Song entry. The song has only continued to blow up since then. In mid-August, \u201cGolden\u201d briefly hit No. 1 on the \u201cBillboard Hot 100\u201d \u2014 the top spot\u2019s only break from somnambulant YouTuber Alex Warren \u2014 and currently sits at No. 2, with six other tracks from Demon Hunters filling out the top 40.<\/p>\n However, before KPop fans dream of a Barbie-style domination of the Original Song race, it\u2019s worth noting that this mercurial category should be on something of an upswing this year. \u201cGolden\u201d will be competing against a Cynthia Erivo\u2013penned song<\/a> from Wicked: For Good, at least one number from \u201cSinners,\u201d plus the customary nomination for Diane Warren<\/a>. (Which this year seems likely to be \u201cDear Me\u201d from Warren\u2019s own documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless.) Recall, too, that \u201cBillboard Hot 100\u201d success is no guarantee of Oscar attention. Despite winning Best Animated Feature, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse couldn\u2019t even boost Post Malone and Swae Lee\u2019s chart-topper \u201cSunflower\u201d onto the Original Song shortlist.<\/p>\n Luckily, \u201cGolden\u201d also has an advantage over much of the competition: It\u2019s not just an end-credits song. Rather, it plays a pivotal part in the action of the film itself. That\u2019s usually a significant advantage, as proven by recent Original Song winners such as RRR\u2019s \u201cNaatu Naatu\u201d and Emilia P\u00e9rez\u2019s \u201cEl Mal.\u201d If this year\u2019s Original Song race comes down to Demon Hunters versus the vampires of Sinners, that could add some much-needed juice to this perennially uncherished category.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keeping pace with Hollywood\u2019s perpetual awards horserace. Sign up for the newsletter here. Photo: Netflix You know something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[9238,4648,16005,18,117,16004,19,17,4923,327,337,7012,16006,16007,16008],"class_list":{"0":"post-18027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-academy-awards","9":"tag-awards","10":"tag-awards-season","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-gold-rush","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-kpop-demon-hunters","17":"tag-movies","18":"tag-music","19":"tag-oscars","20":"tag-oscars-2026","21":"tag-vulture-homepage-lede","22":"tag-vulture-section-lede"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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