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

If one film from 2025 can be described as a musical sensation, it’s KPop Demon Hunters. Netflix is prioritizing “Golden” as a Best Original Song contender, but that’s far from the film’s only earworm. Its soundtrack is the first since Saturday Night Fever to have three songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 5 at once. KPop has four songs in the Billboard Top 10 overall. Beyond Best Original Song, KPop Demon Hunters is absolutely getting a Best Animated Feature nomination. Why stop there?

A Best Picture Oscar nomination for KPop Demon Hunters is admittedly a stretch. At the Golden Globes, though, KPop stands a reasonable shot at a Best Picture - Musical or Comedy nomination, although it isn’t Netflix’s only film that could vie in this category. Netflix can also push Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, and Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Outside of Netflix, Bugonia, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Marty Supreme, Materialists, One Battle After Another, Rental Family, Sentimental Value, and Wicked: For Good could also contend in the Musical or Comedy category. With only six slots to fill, it might be too crowded for KPop Demon Hunters, especially if films like Sinners, Sorry Baby, and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere submit in Musical/Comedy when they’re arguably more dramatic. There’s another Globe that KPop could make a play for: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.

Okay, let’s get this out of the way. The Golden Globe for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement isn’t a “real award.” Yes, it’s a category that’s broadcast on the Golden Globes. Yes, it comes with a trophy that’s no different from the other Golden Globes they give out. Yes, recipients and nominees should feel proud about making the lineup, but let’s be honest. It doesn’t carry the same weight as a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama or Best Picture - Musical/Comedy. It’s a consolation prize for popular films like Barbie and Wicked, which might’ve stood a better chance at winning a Best Picture Globe if this other award didn’t exist.

Some might argue that Best Animated Feature is also a consolation prize, which I strongly disagree with. There’s so much animation today that the medium deserves a category highlighting the vast array of quality. That said, animation should still be in the Best Picture conversation. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded three animated films in Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Toy Story 2. Animated films were deemed ineligible in the Best Picture races after the HFPA introduced a category specific to the medium in 2006. This rule has since been rectified, allowing animated films to not only submit in their respective category, but also in the Best Picture races and Best Foreign Language Film. Yet, recent films like Encanto, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and Flow have struggled to break into those categories.

Animation has had better luck in Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Super Mario Bros. Movie were nominated in 2023, losing to Barbie. The following year, Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot were nominated, losing to Wicked. There are two ways to qualify for this category. One is to gross at least $150 million at the box office, $100 million of which needs to be made in America. Every animated theatrical release of 2025 has fallen short of this box office milestone. Dog Man made $97 million in the US, Elio made $73 million, and The Bad Guys 2 has made $68 million so far.

Weirdly enough, the highest-grossing film of 2025, as well as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, technically isn’t eligible in this category. China’s Ne Zha 2 has made over $2 billion, although most of its income is from overseas. When Ne Zha 2 made it to the US earlier this year, it grossed roughly $20 million. A24 recently brought Ne Zha 2 back to theaters with an English dub, but even with a wider theatrical rollout, it’s only made a few extra millions. It’s highly unlikely the film will hit the $100 million mark in the West, meaning 2025’s biggest blockbuster somehow isn’t a big enough box office achievement for the Golden Globes.

Ne Zha 2’s English dub hit theaters alongside Netflix’s theatrical release of KPop Demon Hunters’ sing-along version. Although it had been streaming for two months by then, KPop Demon Hunters opened #1 at the box office, a first for Netflix. While Netflix didn’t release any official numbers, rival studios estimate it made just under $20 million. Had Netflix kept the sing-along version in theaters longer, the film could’ve reached the $100 million milestone. Netflix restricted it to a two-day theatrical release, however. Apparently, Netflix doesn’t want our money unless it’s from jacking up subscription prices.

The fact KPop made as much as it did under these circumstances is still a box office achievement. Nevertheless, its brief theatrical run doesn’t qualify it for the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Globe. There’s another route to eligibility, though. A film can qualify if it receives “commensurate digital streaming viewership recognised by trusted industry sources.” KPop Demon Hunters more than meets that requirement. Over ten weeks, KPop was viewed 236 million times on Netflix. It thus dethroned something called Red Notice as the streamer’s most-watched film ever - animated or live-action. If KPop Demon Hunters makes the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement lineup, it’ll be the category’s first nominee to stem from streaming.

KPop Demon Hunters is a bright spot in what hasn’t been the best year for blockbusters. Wanting to throw a bone to popular films is understandable from a ratings perspective, but are A Minecraft Movie, the Lilo & Stitch remake, and Jurassic World: Rebirth really worthy of awards? Even a booby prize like Cinematic and Box Office Achievement? 2025 has given us some quality moneymakers like Sinners, Superman, and Weapons. The MCU had two of its better recent entries with Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, although both made less than expected. Does that technically make them box office achievements? Looking ahead to the holiday season, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Wicked: For Good, and Zootopia 2 could garner strong reviews to go with their box office. Even then, there should still be enough space for KPop Demon Hunters in this race.

Last year, it was incorrectly reported that The Wild Robot was the most-nominated animated film in Golden Globes history. The Wild Robot got four nominations for Best Animated Feature, Original Song, Score, and Cinematic/Box Office Achievement. Aladdin holds the Globes record with five nominations for Best Picture Musical/Comedy, Score, and three spots in Original Song. That said, The Wild Robot is the animated film with the most nominations in separate categories. KPop Demon Hunters just might break that record.

The film is likely to get at least three Globe nominations for Best Animated Feature, Cinematic/Box Office Achievement, and Song. Marcelo Zarvos could also get a Best Original Score nomination, especially since Daniel Pemberton was previously recognized here for Sony’s Across the Spider-Verse. Then there’s the outside chance of a Best Picture Musical/Comedy nomination, which would bring its total to five. As of now, Netflix is only campaigning “Golden” for awards consideration, but if they decide to promote one or two more songs, KPop could get an unprecedented seven nominations. Of course, that’s a big if. Three or four seems like the most realistic ceiling for KPop.

In any case, KPop will probably be this year’s most-nominated animated feature at the Globes. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll win any. Last year, many thought The Wild Robot would at least win Best Animated Feature. That Globe instead went to Flow, putting it on the path to winning the Oscar. Something similar happened a year earlier when The Boy and the Heron beat presumed frontrunner Across the Spider-Verse. Between the HFPA’s dissolution and Dick Clark Productions’ takeover, some wrote off the Globes as a legitimate Oscar prognosticator. As far as Best Animated Feature is concerned, though, the Globes still matter.

Arco, A Magnificent Life, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain all premiered at Cannes this year. Maybe one will go on to win the Globe, following the same path as Flow. If Mamoru Hosoda's Scarlet garners positive buzz coming out of the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, the Globes may crown it as the Oscar frontrunner. A US production like In Your Dreams, The Twits, or Zootopia 2 could still emerge as the Best Animated Feature frontrunner. Or perhaps we’ll find that it was KPop Demon Hunters all along.

While some awards experts were initially skeptical, most of them have relented that KPop Demon Hunters is getting a Best Animated Feature nomination. Not everyone is convinced that it can win, however. Part of that’s because we haven’t seen all of the potential contenders yet, meaning there could still be a few curveballs. The other reason is that it’s called KPop Demon Hunters. Is the Academy really going to grant a film with that title Oscar-winning status? A win at the Globes would give them permission to do so!

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