KPop Demon Hunters creator dismisses live-action adaptation idea

KPop Demon Hunters is undoubtedly Netflix's big movie hit of the year so far, and already sequels are being planned as the streamer wants to franchise the heck out of its latest success. Something that was also mentioned to be in Netflix's plans is a live-action adaptation.

Maggie Kang, the co-director and creator of KPop Demon Hunters, is not a fan of this concept. Speaking to the BBC, she tried to shut down a live-action adaptation, believing it would struggle to work. "There's so many elements of the tone and the comedy that are so suited for animation," she said.

"It's really hard to imagine these characters in a live action world. It would feel too grounded. So totally it wouldn't work for me." Chris Appelhans, Kang's co-director, also said it was ill-conceived. "One of the great things about animation is that you make these composites of impossibly great attributes. Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then freefalling through the sky," he said. "I remember they adapted a lot of different animes and often times, it just feels a little stilted."

With Lilo & Stitch, The Lion King, and more pulling in big box office money, it's easy to see why Hollywood is so obsessed with bringing animated hits to a different medium, but at the same time it's still largely disrespectful to animators and animation as a whole. Live-action adaptations often work off the premise of bringing something more real, more alive to an audience, when in fact it seems the creators of KPop Demon Hunters think the purest form of the movie is the one you can watch on Netflix right now.