The release of ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ in 2018 marked a pivotal moment in animation, setting a new standard for creativity and visual storytelling. This article explores its influence on Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’.
How Did The ‘Spider-Verse’ Influence ‘KPop Demon Hunters’?
Let’s be honest. We all walked out of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in 2018 completely shell-shocked. It was a seismic event. But mostly it was a film so visually inventive and emotionally resonant that it felt like the entire medium of animation had just been kicked into a new dimension.
I think I saw it three times in theaters. I just kept bringing people to see it.
And like any seismic event, it created a massive crater that every other animated film now has to navigate. The temptation for studios—and for us, as filmmakers—is to just play in that crater.
I hear it from execs all the time: “Do the Spider-Verse thing!”
As if it’s so easy to slap some 2D textures on a 3D model, mess with the frame rates, and call it a day.
It’s the oldest trap in Hollywood: chasing the last big hit.
But the team behind Netflix’s new animated feature, KPop Demon Hunters, did something much, much smarter. They decided not to play that game at all.
When You Can’t Win, Change the Game
Co-director of KPop Demon Hunters Maggie Kang had a distinct vision when she set out to make the movie. She told Animation Magazine, “I wanted to just make a movie that was set in Korean culture, so I delved into mythology and demonology for something that could be visually unique from what we’ve seen in mainstream media. I’ve also always wanted to do a group of amazing kick-ass women.”
Her co-director, Chris Appelhans, shared that they drew inspiration from all kinds of media.
“We drew inspiration from a different set of influences: music videos, editorial photography, K-dramas, concert lighting, a touch of anime. All the artists, animators, and lighters on the film embraced that challenge and did a fantastic job to realize our vision.”
But there was obvious pressure after seeing Spider-Verse have such crazy success with not just the original, but also that movie’s sequel.
Kang herself recalled seeing the Spider-Verse premiere and having the most self-aware reaction a creative can have. She knew she couldn’t top it.
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“Chris and I were invited to the premiere of Spider-Verse, and as soon as it started, I texted him saying, ‘Oh, no. How are we going to do this?’ Because it was just so stunning. They’re always breaking boundaries and showing us something new. So, if we played that game, it would be hard to beat [Spider-Verse].”
This is a lesson every single one of us needs to tattoo on our brains. Your influences are a source of inspiration, not a blueprint for imitation.
So, what did they do?
Kang explained, “So we pulled away from every 2D element in our movie. We took a lot of inspiration from faces and the look and feel of anime, but [did] a CG version of it. There’s one thing that we didn’t catch, but I think 99.9% of everything is CG.”
They didn’t copy the technique of Spider-Verse; they copied the philosophy: use They’reium to create a unique visual language that serves your story.
Appelhans told CinemaBlend, “We were like, ‘This is it. How do we make it special? How do we make it visually striking?’ And the nice thing was, Sony has such a deep, talented group of animators and lighters and everything-ers that when we brought those influences to them, they’re like, ‘Cool, dude. We love this stuff too.’ How exciting we get to do this kind of thing.”
Summing It All Up
Look, we all have our favorite movies. We all have our heroes. But the lesson from KPop Demon Hunters is to strive for originality.
They saw the game-changing film, acknowledged its greatness, and respectfully chose to build their own game next door. And they crushed it.
That’s your job.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
