Huntrix now share shelf space with Roma, The Irishman and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, courtesy of Criterion. That’s the tier KPop Demon Hunters has entered.
In August 2026, Criterion revealed a 4K Blu-ray special edition of the film, alongside a two-disc Blu-ray and a two-disc DVD, with all three arriving November 3, 2026. Accompanying the reveal was a first look at the artwork tucked inside the three-disc special Blu-ray edition, plus a breakdown of the bonus features included.
Why a physical release actually means something here
This kind of honor rarely lands on a Netflix original. The titles that have received it earned the distinction: Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, del Toro’s Pinocchio. Slotting an animated musical about demon-fighting K-pop idols into that lineup speaks volumes about where the film ended up.
Consider it confirmation of the film’s success, impact and legacy — and another chapter in a streak that has shown no signs of cooling since the summer of 2025.
The setup, if you somehow missed it
Directing duties went to Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans. At the center is Huntrix — a K-pop girl group whose members are Rumi, Mira and Zoey. Beyond being massive music stars, the trio represent the newest generation of demon hunters, charged with keeping demons away from the human world.
Singing is how they fight. Their voices conjure a protective barrier known as the Honmoon. Everything gets much tougher once the Saja Boys arrive — a boy band that turns out to be demons in disguise.
Netflix’s biggest animation hit, by a distance
Records fell on the platform, awards piled up including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and the merchandise line has enough in it to occupy fans for years. Netflix has relied heavily on original content to stay ahead in a packed streaming market, and several of those originals now rank among the finest films ever made. Two or so of them are animated.
Of the bunch, KPop Demon Hunters made the loudest impact.
It kept going back to theaters
Netflix released the film on June 20, 2025, paired with a limited theatrical window that ran June 20 through 26 at select cinemas. California and New York were the only markets for that opening run.
After the numbers came in, Netflix sent the film back to select theaters as a sing-along edition, this time reaching multiple countries. A second short sing-along stint followed between October 31 and November 2, with one more arriving in June 2026 to celebrate the film’s first anniversary.
That’s four trips to theaters for a streaming original — enough on its own to set it apart from everything else in the Netflix library. The Criterion edition puts a stamp on it.
The sequel is going to take a while
There will be a follow-up, though 2029 or later may be the realistic window. Late 2025 brought a tease that KPop Demon Hunters 2 was targeting 2029, and several months later Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson noted it might not be ready in time.
Annoying? Definitely. Reasonable? Also yes. Animated musicals demand a staggering amount of work behind the camera, and one built on this scale demands even more.
What the second movie has to pull off
Nothing about the plot has surfaced yet. Ejae, who provides Rumi’s singing voice, has expressed interest in seeing the sequel branch into trot and heavy metal territory.
The one certainty is that the sequel needs to scale up: a bigger story, meatier roles and purpose for the cast, richer lore for the universe. Plus a handful of new songs that refuse to leave your head.
With the original’s performance as a baseline, the sequel might open with a broader theatrical rollout from day one. Should it connect the way the first film did, a home media release of its own becomes plausible — which would make Huntrix one of the rare franchises to build a physical-media footprint entirely from a streaming debut.