With the football season now well underway, so are the big TV promotions for watching the games in all their splendor. These will grow over the coming weeks before reaching a fever pitch before the Super Bowl.
I have no doubt these are effective promos — why else would we keep seeing them year after year — but they only appeal to one type of consumer. Where is the on-screen event that appeals to a wider demographic — a family-friendly hit that can get everyone in the house behind adding a theater to their home?
To paraphrase Die Hard, “You asked for a miracle, I give you Kpop Demon Hunters.”
Even if you have not seen the movie on Netflix, where it premiered this past June, you have probably seen or heard some elements as it spread across pop culture. In short, Kpop Demon Hunters is an animated film about a Kpop girl group named Huntrix who tours the world thrilling their fans and destroying any demons they come across — which is a lot.
Technically speaking, the movie is a marvel. The animation is by Sony Pictures Animation, the same studio who produced the excellent Spider-Verse films, and incorporates many of the dazzling techniques from those movies that look great in the Dolby Vision HDR version.
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The movie also includes a glorious Dolby Atmos mix, prompting a thread on the Reddit Home Theater forum called “Now hear me out. Watch KPop Demon Hunters” that began with, “This movie that gave my Atmos system the best work out and finally blew my wife’s socks off. She humored my speaker upgrade but after that movie she is sold.”
The thread has 112 responses, with some recommending other films, but most supporting the original poster’s take on the movie.
Kpop Demon Hunters has been on the Netflix Top 10 lists for 16 weeks and counting, with over 18,100,000 views. That doesn’t even count the number of views KDH had when it was released briefly in theaters as Netflix moved to capitalize on its success.
I know what you are thinking: “It’s been out since June, and more than 18 million people have already seen it. The horse has left the barn.”
What we have are 18 million people who think they have seen Kpop Demon Hunters, because, as you well know, they have not truly experienced it until they’ve seen it in a magnificent home theater that you have created. Or media room, but I should mention that Netflix also created a sing-along version that is available to stream that just begs for a soundproofed, dedicated room with a door that can be shut.
While I have no insider information, it is likely that Sony will release a 4K Blu-ray DVD edition as it did with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. The Machines, so you can be on the lookout for that and time those promos effectively.
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It has been some time since I can recall such a popular film or TV show that can appeal to men, women, and kids, and practically demands family time. Fire up that demo room, and Kpop Demon Hunter can be the hook that gets them in the door and signing on the line.
Oh, for those that haven’t seen it, the “up, up, up” in the headline is from the chorus of one of the catchy songs from the movie. For those who have seen it and were trying to get rid of the earworm I just put back in there, sorry, but I share your affliction.
