^{Credit: KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony Pictures Animation)}

Only a few months ago, awards experts were questioning whether the Academy’s Animation Branch would nominate a film called KPop Demon Hunters. Now, amid its various records on streaming and the Billboard charts, it’s no longer a question. A Best Animated Feature nomination is an inevitability. KPop Demon Hunters is an even bigger lock in Best Original Song for “Golden.” Rei Ami (Zoey’s singing voice), Audrey Nuna (Mira’s singing voice), and Kevin Woo (Mystery Saja's singing) crashed this year’s Toronto Film Festival to perform a karaoke version of the hit single. Guests were also served cocktails themed after the film.

Since then, Ami, Nuna, and Ejae (Rumi’s singing voice) have made the rounds on SNL and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In the KPop Demon Hunters SNL sketch, Chloe Fineman mentions Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, the presumed Best Picture frontrunner as of writing. Bad Bunny, meanwhile, is only interested in KPop Demon Hunters. Everyone else in the room writes the film off as kids’ stuff, although they eventually realize just how far its influence has reached. This begs the question, “Can KPop Demon Hunters make it into the Best Picture race?”

Joyce Eng and Joey Nolfi recently brought this up on Entertainment Weekly’s The Awardist podcast, with the latter commenting, “I think the people that are inclined to put this at number one on their nominations ballot are gonna ride for this movie hard.” Eng said, “I wouldn't be surprised if the passion for it persists and other things fall by the wayside in the upcoming months.” Of course, it feels like we have this conversation every year. Be it Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Soul, or The Wild Robot, there’s always at least one animated feature that enters the Best Picture conversation. Yet, a nomination has only materialized three times with Beauty and the Beast, Up, and Toy Story 3.

KPop Demon Hunters does have the Netflix factor on its side. The streaming giant has yet to win Best Picture, but it’s gotten at least one film nominated every year since 2018. This year should be no exception, although 2025 hasn’t brought Netflix’s strongest output. Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein all received good, but not overwhelmingly glowing reviews coming off the film festival circuit. Then again, Netflix was nominated for Don’t Look Up, which got far worse reviews than the three aforementioned films. Some are pointing to Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams as the sleeper that’ll emerge as Netflix’s best bet. If that film doesn’t take off, though, KPop Demon Hunters could fill the void.

This is reminiscent of 2022, when Netflix went all in on trying to get Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio a Best Picture nomination. It seemed like a genuine possibility, especially since Netflix seemingly didn’t have many contenders. Late in the race, though, All Quiet on the Western Front broke out as Netflix’s Oscar player. All Quiet got into Best Picture while Pinocchio was only nominated for Best Animated Feature, which it won. Still, the Academy seemed to embrace del Toro’s rallying cry that animation was ready for the next step. They’ve made bolder choices since then, with The Boy and the Heron and Flow winning Best Animated Feature over U.S. studio pictures. It’s a significant step forward, and animation returning to Best Picture would be the most logical next step.

KPop Demon Hunters also warrants comparison to Frozen. Despite being backed by major studios, both were released with minimal fanfare. Yet, both became a phenomenon thanks to word of mouth and an inescapable soundtrack. While Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film at the time, KPop Demon Hunters went straight to Netflix. Since it managed to top the box office during the sing-along version’s limited run, it’s not unfounded to say that KPop Demon Hunters could’ve been a billion-dollar hit for Sony. The studio heads may say otherwise, but gift-wrapping the film to Netflix was Sony’s most misguided decision since rereleasing Morbius.

Going back to Frozen, it won two Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for “Let It Go.” KPop Demon Hunters may see a similar haul, but if it matches Frozen’s trajectory, a Best Picture nomination may be out of reach. Then again, Frozen was released when there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees, depending on how many #1 votes a film received. There were only nine films nominated in 2013, but maybe Frozen could’ve filled the tenth spot. The Academy has since revised the rules, ensuring that ten films will be nominated. This helps KPop Demon Hunters, although it would likely be the tenth film in a lineup that could also include One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Sentimental Value, Sinners, Marty Supreme, It Was Just an Accident, Wicked: For Good, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and Song Sung Blue.

KPop Demon Hunters might not even be the Best Animated Feature frontrunner. Before KPop Demon Hunters broke out, Netflix seemed to be positioning In Your Dreams as their Best Animated Feature contender. Netflix dropped the first In Your Dreams trailer back in June 2025, five months before its planned November release. For context, the first KPop Demon Hunters trailer dropped in May, a month before its June debut. Likewise, Netflix just put out the trailer for The Twits, only a couple of weeks before its October 17th release.

Netflix hasn’t forgotten about In Your Dreams amid KPop Demon Hunters’ massive success. Another trailer was recently released, and the film’s director, Alex Woo, was a presenter at the Student Academy Awards. Woo even cheekily plugged In Your Dreams during his presentation. In Your Dreams is a co-production between Woo’s Kuku Studios and Netflix Animation. KPop Demon Hunters, meanwhile, was an acquisition from Sony Pictures Animation. Thus, Netflix may be more invested in promoting the film they helped produce. If In Your Dreams doesn’t break out as Netflix is anticipating, though, Netflix will go all in on KPop.

This sounds reminiscent of 2023, when everyone thought Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget would be Netflix’s Oscar ticket. Although Dawn of the Nugget was well-reviewed, it lived in the original film’s shadow. Meanwhile, Netflix also has a breath of fresh air with Nimona, which was nominated instead. We can’t properly judge In Your Dreams until audiences finally have the chance to see it. Maybe it will garner stellar reviews, top the Netflix charts over the holiday season, and emerge as the new Best Animated Feature frontrunner. Perhaps it could even enter the Best Picture conversation. At that point, though, In Your Dreams and KPop Demon Hunters might cancel each other out as Best Picture hopefuls.

Even if KPop Demon Hunters maintains its status as the Best Animated Feature frontrunner, so many great animated films have gone overlooked in Best Picture. Why would KPop Demon Hunters be the one to end the dry spell? Writing my book(s), Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows, I interviewed Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull. Although Catmull told me that he doesn’t have much faith that an animated film will ever win Best Picture, he believes “the one exception might be if there were some kind of spectacular musical, which is something they also really appreciate.” KPop Demon Hunters might not have been the film Catmull had in mind, but it is a spectacular musical.

For now, let’s see if KPop Demon Hunters can even get a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The real sign of its strength would be if KPop Demon Hunters got a PGA nomination for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, which hasn’t recognized an animated film since Toy Story 3. The Producers Guild is known for embracing movies that make money, and few were more profitable this year than KPop Demon Hunters. If KPop Demon Hunters can pull it off at PGA, it just might be golden enough for the Oscars.  

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!