“KPop Demon Hunters,” an animated Netflix movie about a girl group who slays audiences onstage and demons offstage, is packed with songs so infectious that even dads are powerless to resist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis movie is the perfect combo of nostalgia, earworms and never-ending streaming. So we\u2019re screwed,\u201d father, singer and comedian Chris Mann jokes with TODAY.com.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 4, Mann posted a TikTok<\/a> illustrating his growing obsession with the movie. Featuring the song \u201cGolden,\u201d the video has been viewed about 10 million times. It shows Mann going from mild interest on first watch to dramatically singing into a sword on his 10th watch. <\/p>\n “This is the pop culture moment of the year,” he says. “It has broken the internet.”<\/p>\n The movie has even infiltrated TODAY host Craig Melvin\u2019s household. <\/p>\n \u201cWe watched it this weekend,\u201d joked Craig on Aug. 25<\/a>. \u201cThe singalong version? They\u2019re not even giving us a chance now.\u201d<\/p>\n The movie may have been initially available only on Netflix, but over the weekend it transferred to physical movie theaters, where it made about $20 million. Six songs from the movie\u2019s soundtrack<\/a> have taken over Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 chart, with two rising into the top 10 slots, according to Billboard\u2019s website<\/a>. On Aug. 25, Netflix released a special sing-along edition<\/a> on its streaming platform. <\/p>\n The fervor doesn’t seem to be slowing down.<\/p>\n Mann had been watching the movie on repeat at home with his kids, but he still forked over the money to watch it in the theater with them this weekend.<\/p>\n “Everybody went. The whole school went,” he explains. “It’s almost like the school version of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where you don’t want to miss out.”<\/p>\n The movie has similarly been \u201cblowing up\u201d teacher Rob D\u2019Urbano\u2019s parent group chat. \u201cHonestly, none of us mind that it\u2019s on repeat in our houses,\u201d he tells TODAY.com. \u201cI feel like all the dads are enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside a TikTok video<\/a> of himself watching the movie even after his three young daughters went to bed, he wrote, \u201cI can\u2019t be the only parent that bops to this movie.\u201d <\/p>\n No, sir. You certainly are not. <\/p>\n Influencer Josh Jones made a TikTok video <\/a>similar to Mann’s showing his evolution from skeptic to believer. He added costumes, wigs and a dance routine to really show his dedication to the film.<\/p>\n For Jones, it’s the “message behind the movie” that really resonates. <\/p>\n “There’s this really positive message here, where it perfectly portrays the battle between good and evil,” he says. In fact, he allows the kids to watch the movie on Sunday, a day that he and his wife normally reserve for “religious” movies. He says, “It’s complimented our spiritual journey as a family very nicely.”<\/p>\n As the father of one son and five daughters \u2014 with another daughter on the way \u2014 Jones also appreciates the “girl power” theme of the movie. “Having all of these daughters, that’s something that I just really want to support,” he shares.<\/p>\n The phenomenon isn\u2019t limited to girl dads.<\/p>\n Mann’s two sons also love the movie. His 4-year-old sings “Soda Pop” and his 8-year-old is trying to teach himself to play the song on the piano by ear. Mann, an actor who played the title role in the the Broadway tour of “Phantom of the Opera” for 700 performances, does a mean version of “Golden<\/a>.”<\/p>\n \u201cSomething about these competing boy and girl groups is super nostalgic for millennial parents,” Mann says. “We get to relive this fandom all over again through our kids. It\u2019s like our boy band DNA meeting parenting reality.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann adds, “This Halloween, it’s going to be only ‘KPop Demon Hunters.’ I wish I had stock in this movie.” <\/p>\n