'KPop Demon Hunters' creator rejects live-action version of the Netflix movie

Maggie Kang, the creator of the hit Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters, explained why she's rejecting the live-action version of the film.

“There [are] so many elements of the tone and the comedy that are so suited for animation,” Kang told the BBC. “It’s really hard to imagine these characters in a live-action world. It would feel too grounded. So, totally it wouldn’t work for me," she added.

For his part, co-director Chris Appelhans said the animated version allows them to make "impossibly great attributes" of the characters.

"One of the great things about animation is that you make these composites of impossibly great attributes. Rumi can be this goofy comedian and then singing and doing a spinning back-kick a second later and then free-falling through the sky," he said.

"The joy of animation is how far you can push and elevate what's possible. I remember they adapted a lot of different animes and oftentimes, it just feels a little stilted," he added.

And while there was "nothing official we can talk about," the directors expressed that they are open to making a sequel to the film, saying they believe "there's definitely more we can do with these characters in this world."

"Whatever it will be, it will be a story that deserves to be a sequel, and it will be something that we want to see," she added.

In her previous interview with Variety, Kang said she'd like to explore more about Zoey and Mira's story.

“We’ve set up so much for potential backstory. Obviously, there [are] a lot of questions that are left unanswered and areas that are not explored, and we had to do that because there’s only so much movie you could tell in 85 minutes. This was Rumi’s story, and we have backstories for Zoey and Mira – ones that we actually put in the movie, but it just kind of rejected it. It just wasn’t the movie for those stories,” she added.

Kpop Demon Hunters tells the story of a K-pop girl group—Rumi, Zoey, and Mira—who are secretly on a mission to save the world from evil forces. They went up against Saja Boys, a boy group made of demons.

It became the most-watched original title in Netflix history. It has achieved over 330 million cumulative views just within three months of its release.

Its soundtrack, including the hit song Golden, has since been on the Billboard 200 albums chart.