The movie that made Netflix history (and that you probably haven't seen yet)

BarcelonaIt's an animated film, initially aimed at a younger audience, but it has managed to become a global phenomenon. The warriors of K-pop, released on June 20, has marked a before and after on Netflix: not only is it the most viewed animated film in the history of the platform, but it is also about to conquer the first position in the global ranking of the most watched films on the streaming service since its inception. According to data from the platform, it has accumulated 210.5 million views since its premiere and to catch the first film in the ranking, Red alert, needs 20.4 million more views. What are the elements that have seduced the audience? A soundtrack full of K-pop songs that hook your brain as soon as you hear them, and a plot that's hard-working and plays with the classic contrast between good and evil. Plus, the running time isn't even an hour and a half.

A The warriors of K-pop, produced by Sony and released on Netflix, there is a demon king, Gwi-Ma, who feeds on the souls of humans. However, his domination is not complete thanks to three demon slayers, Rumi, Mira and Zoey, who form the K-pop band Huntr/x. They are the heirs of generations of hunter/singers who, by uniting their voices, have been able to create and maintain Honmoon, a kind of protective shield that makes it difficult for demons to enter the earth. The Huntr/x's goal is to create the golden Honmoon, which will permanently seal the human world from demons. The K-pop idols' mission will be in trouble when a male musical band made up of demons, the Saja Boys, appears, who intend to seduce humans with their voices. Although the plot is set in South Korea and is fully immersed in the K-pop universe of bands like Blackpink and BTS, the original language of the film is English (the film is available with Catalan subtitles).

One of the key attractions of the production are the twelve songs, four of which have entered the Billboard Hot 100 list –Golden, Your idol, Soda pop and How it's done–. According to the magazine, it has become the first soundtrack to generate four simultaneous top 10 hits in the 67 years the compilation of achievements has been published. Last week – August 17-23 – Golden was in second position on the list, Your idol in the fourth and Soda pop in the tenth. This week, however, Golden had already regained its first position.

Jump to the cinema

The film's success has prompted Netflix to also release it in theaters. Last weekend, the platform brought it—in a karaoke version and only on Saturday and Sunday—to 1,750 theaters across the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. According to the Associated Press, citing funding sources from rival film studios, the film topped the weekend box office, grossing between $16 and $18 million in the United States. The figure would make it The warriors of K-pop in Netflix's first major blockbuster in its 18-year history.

In light of the cinematic and musical phenomenon that has emerged, Maggie Kang, who directed the film with Chris Appelhans, has hinted that there could be a sequel. Among other things, in an interview on Variety He noted that the new film could focus on explaining the origin of the three demon slayers, a part of the story they couldn't show in the original film. "We've prepared a lot of things to explore the origins. Obviously, there are a lot of unanswered questions and areas we didn't go into. We had to do it this way because there's only so much you can tell in an 85-minute movie," says Kang.