On a rainy Saturday in October at Rose Music Hall in Columbia, the weather isn’t stopping a gathering of "KPop Demon Hunters" fans who love HUNTR/X, a K-pop girl group in the film, and the Saja boys, a fictional demon boy band also in the movie.
Kids dressed as their favorite characters are getting their faces painted, and sampling Korean cuisine made by Jina Yoo, owner of local Asian eatery Le Bao. People are dancing to their favorite songs from the hit Netflix movie’s soundtrack, and everyone is showing Columbia “how it's done, done, done,” a nod to a hit song from the film.
“It's a daily ritual for us to listen to the soundtrack every single morning on the way to school and on the way home,” said Melissa Baumann, who attended the Rose Music Hall event with her child.
"KPop Demon Hunters" is the most popular Netflix film to date. Almost three months after the film’s release, it has surpassed 400 million views on Netflix.
The most popular song from the movie is “Golden.” The song spent eight weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 100 charts, before slipping after the release of Taylor Swift’s new album. It held the No. 2 spot as of Oct. 30.
The song has been featured in workout classes for college students at the University of Missouri. Music venues such as the Blue Note and Rose Music Hall have hosted events themed around the movie. The song even inspired Marching Mizzou to do its own rendition.
Two marching band members created a specific arrangement of the song for the “Concert on the Quad” earlier this year. The band’s version of “Golden” — posted to its Facebook and Instagram page — has garnered almost 2 million views across both platforms.
Washington University film studies professor Colin Burnett said many businesses are taking a similar approach to engaging with the film’s popularity.
“That's actually at the center of what we call blockbuster cinema,” Burnett said. “It's entertainment for the whole family. And so what you're seeing is local businesses taking on this very strategy. So what you want is the kids, the parents, the aunts, the uncles, the grandparents, coming together to experience something and to be entertained by it. So it's a very smart strategy that's decades in the making."
With this wave of enthusiasm among fans, it’s little surprise that the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey ranked "KPop Demon Hunters" as the ninth most popular children’s costume this year, competing with superheroes, princesses and other Halloween classics. However, reporting from Business Insider has shown that Spirit Halloween, which has the exclusive license to the official costumes, is struggling to meet demand.
Frightgeist from Google looks at Google Trends to analyze the top trending costumes in 2025. On Oct. 30, the top 5 trending costumes in the “Overall Costume” category were all characters from the movie.
Carla McElroy also attended the Rose Music Hall event with her daughter Ramona who, like many other kids, plans to dress up for Halloween as Rumi, the lead singer in the K-pop girl group HUNTR/X.
“It's a little cold and rainy, but there was no missing this, right? What would you have done if I made you miss it?” McElroy asked her daughter.
Ramona said she “would have stayed home and watched KPop Demon Hunters by myself, but still dressed up.”
And Ramona is not alone — the character Rumi ranks No. 2 in Columbia for costumes, according to Frightgeist.
Mijeong Mimi Kim teaches Korean in WashU's East Asian languages department and said the film inspires fans to learn more about Korean culture and, in turn, other cultures as well.
“It starts from fun and spectacle, but I hope it triggers deeper understanding of culture, not only Korean, but it can hopefully transfer into other cultural appreciation, because every culture has beautiful things to offer,” Kim said.
As people begin their Halloween celebrations, they’re sure to see the demon hunters out combating otherworldly forces — and maybe getting some candy along the way.
This story was produced through a collaboration between Missouri Business Alert and KBIA, partners in the Missouri News Network.
