www.forbes.com: The story says that Netflix and Sony (who have no comment) are “gunning toward” a 2029 release date, which would be 3.5-4 years after the original film’s release in July 2025. An interminable wait for those hoping for another movie, but…one that probably should have been expected in the context of the animation industry.
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I know it seems silly, but I'm deeply invested in the culture and ideas that surround this movie. Currently, I'm writing my paper for my first year writing class about the movie Kpop Demon Hunters, and how it is a piece of media that is a great example of good representation of asian culture and characters. The people who made this film are actually Korean and have incorporated many details about Korean culture that make it feel super authentic, including having the music written by people who are actually in the K-pop industry. The characters are complex and not stereotypes, which is rare for asian characters. Its widespread popularity among kids means that its positives will have a big impact. I'm glad to hear they're making another movie and are taking their time with it. Good stories and animation take a long time, and to create something meaningful, they should continue to take the care needed to do it well.
I hate how this article frames the sequel of K-Pop Demon Hunters coming out in 3-4 years as a bad thing. I get that Forbes is all about business and quick releases, but this timeline just signifies a dedication from Sony to its artists. If Sony was going for something quick, they might do live action or cut corners with their animation through AI. By continuing to produce quality animation that is made by artists, Sony is simply going to take longer than a live action film. We cannot hold animation to the same time constraints as every other movie out of Hollywood, because by doing that we are begging animation to become commercialized dog poop. I want to continue seeing actual art on the screen, and time is the cost of that. Not even a cost, more of just a natural cause. Thinking of it as a cost implies that we are losing something, but time continues to move on whether or not I get to see the next release of a movie as soon as the first one comes out.
This is super unsurprising to me. As they mention in the article, the Spiderverse movies have been slow to release since the original movie came out and since Spiderverse and Kpop Demon Hunters are both made by Sony it makes sense that they would have similar time lines. It does make sense that Spiderverse would take slightly longer that KDH because the animation of each spiderperson is different which takes a significant amount of time. But any digital animation takes a significant amount of time. Human labor can only go so fast and it would be extremely unethical to overwork artists in order to produce work faster. People who have watched Sony's recent animated movies would probably agree that these movies are worth the wait. I think generally patience is a skill folks need to work on and the sequels of these movies is certainly an opportunity to do so.
I truly do think this is very bad news, perhaps news but, neither good nor bad. Honestly, I think this is par for course for animation as it takes a whole lot longer from development into actualization and then editing for the movies, also considering they need to write whole new songs for the next one. I’ve been waiting for how ever many years now for the third Into the Spiderverse movie and I will continue to wait for how ever long it takes since they are groundbreaking animated films and care deeply about the story and how it is portrayed. I am excited for KPOP Demon Hunters 2 and I will continue to be excited for it in 4 years when it comes out another awesome movie since it was give the time it deserves for the artists to make something amazing. (I also think Netflix has been killing it with their animated programs in the past 5-10 years and I hope they see that they should continue to invest).
I think we really need to normalize the fact that movies, especially good ones, take time to make. I think the fact that people seem to be upset about KPop Demon Hunters 2 not releasing until 2029 are being a little unreasonable toward Sony Pictures Animation. In the streaming era, a constant stream of content has been normalized, possibly to the detriment of the media landscape. Entertainment giants like Disney, Paramount, and NBCUniversal feel pressured to just create content, often at the expense of quality. This is a purely anecdotal observation, but the drop in quality at some of these studios seems to have coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the advent of major streaming services like Disney+ and HBOMax. Good art simply takes time to make, so four years for a sequel to a film is not at all unreasonable. Hell, Disney took longer between Frozen and Frozen 2, about six years if I recall correctly.
I personally think KPop Demon Hunters should not get a second movie. Now I thought the movie was terrific, all the music was so well written and it sounded amazing. However, I thought the way it ended was perfect, they sealed the main antagonist with an even stronger honmoon, it makes me kind of curious to see what they can do with a second movie. Now I will say regardless, I’m not surprised it’s taking Sony so long to create the second movie. For starters, that movie was really high quality, they need to keep that consistent for audience enjoyment. However, Sony also has the third Spider-verse movie to keep working on. I have been looking forward to that movie since I saw the second one in theatres, it would be pretty upsetting to all Spider-verse fans if they had to delay the third movie further for KPop Demon Hunters.
Maybe its a little petty to think this, but - as someone who has almost spent a majority of their life waiting for releases from my favorite franchise rather than playing rather than playing them - I’m kinda glad to see people having to sit down and wait for a long period of time. They will finally understand the suffering I go through on a daily basis, being driven up a wall wanting to know what comes next and see my favorite characters again. It’s deserved for KPop Demon Hunters, its a great movie and is good representation and it deserves a fandom and following because of that. I’m also a fan of the movie and would see the second one when it comes out (even though I think the story was concluded pretty well and doesn't need a sequel). Still though, I can’t help but feel that little feeling of, “HA welcome to my world, you’ll understand my insanity” even though the wait time isn’t nearly as long as the periods I’ve had to wait between franchise releases (6 to 13 years).
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