KPop Demon Hunters Star Enters A K-Pop Survival Competition In New Movie
While the world waits for the sequel to KPop Demon Hunters, its star is about to enter a fierce competition in a brand-new movie. Netflix has had different successful original movies through the years, some of them now ranking among the best movies of all time, including animated ones. In the last year, Netflix has been enjoying the massive success of its animated musical movie KPop Demon Hunters.
KPop Demon Hunters introduced the world to K-pop girl group Huntrix, formed by Rumi, Mira, and Zoey. In addition to being global sensations, the Huntrix girls are the latest demon hunters. As such, they must fight demons and keep them away from the human world, and for that, they use their singing voices to create a barrier against demons called Honmoon. KPop Demon Hunters is now one of the best animated movies of all time, as well as one of Netflix’s biggest hits.
KPop Demon Hunters broke various records, and a year after its release, it’s still one of Netflix's most popular movies. As expected, a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters was confirmed a couple of months later, but the wait for it is going to be a long one, with a projected release date of 2029. However, one of the stars of KPop Demon Hunters already has a new project lined up for the near future, and it will take her on a different adventure.
K-Pop: The Debut Is Ji-young Yoo’s Next Movie After KPop Demon Hunters
KPop Demon Hunters stars Arden Cho as Rumi, May Hong as Mira, and Ji-young Yoo as Zoey, with Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami providing the singing voices for each character. While they aren’t newcomers, KPop Demon Hunters gave their careers a massive boost, and while the return of Huntrix is in development, they are all keeping themselves busy with other projects.
Such is the case for Ji-young Yoo, who already has her next big project lined up, and it has some key links to KPop Demon Hunters. Yoo made her acting debut in the 2020 South Korean apocalyptic horror show Sweet Home, where she voiced Lee Eun Yoo. The following year, she played Casey in Netflix’s comedy-drama movie Moxie. Yoo had roles in shows like Expats and movies like Freaky Tales before KPop Demon Hunters, and her next movie is the coming-of-age musical drama K-Pop: The Debut.
Directed by Benson Lee, K-Pop: The Debut follows Lizzy Lee (Yoo), a young Korean-American woman who goes against the path her family has already chosen for her and secretly decides to follow her dream. To achieve her goals, Lizzy enters a competition show to find the members of the next K-pop girl group. Now surrounded by exceptional performers, Lizzy must push herself beyond her limits while also embracing her identity.
K-Pop: The Debut is scheduled for a February 26, 2027, release, and while fans of KPop Demon Hunters will still have to wait a couple of months to reunite with Yoo on the big screen, it will make the wait for the sequel to KPop Demon Hunters a lot more bearable.
K-Pop: The Debut Brings To Life The Best Things About KPop Demon Hunters
Despite being two completely different projects and worlds, K-Pop: The Debut has some key similarities to KPop Demon Hunters. Of course, the most obvious one is their musical connection, with both having K-pop at its core (and surely K-Pop: The Debut will have catchy songs), and Yoo’s characters being part of a K-pop girl group – however, there are other similarities that go beyond their shared music genre.
Both movies are about a young woman (Rumi and Lizzy) trying to find her place in the world, embrace her identity, and go after her dreams despite all the challenges thrown at her. Speaking to Teen Vogue, Yoo shared that both movies are very different from each other despite their K-pop links, but the thematic similarities can't be denied. It’s to be seen if K-Pop: The Debut can reach KPop Demon Hunters-level of success, as well as what else Yoo and the rest of Huntrix have lined up before the sequel arrives.