“Almost perfect” details are secrets to his success

When a South Korean monk performed a Buddhist ritual for a wild-popular K-Pop Boy group, it was the most unusual ceremony he had ever held.

His mission: to lead the souls of the group to peace and rebirth.

The group had long gone -or more recently, they were never alive except in the fictional world of Netflix Hit K -pop Demon Lunters animated hit.

However, the video on YouTube became viral.

Although voted as villains, the Saj’s boys have won the next because of their magnificent appearance and blur. Even their name – Saja – translates “Angel of Death”, among other things.

The live service, a true Buddhist rite, known as Chondojae, commonly performed by monks for grieving families, lasted more than two hours and painted more than 4,000 spectators – more people than he ever saw for a ceremony, even offline, says Monk, a virtual YouTube that prefers to remain anonymous.

It was no joke. The BBC confirmed that a monk was registered. But he could not guarantee salvation for the Saj’s boys, even for the leading role, Ginu.

“This will depend on his good karma. I can direct him, but I can’t promise.”

Because K -pop Demon Lunters heads every diagram – Netflix says it has become the most watched movie so far – the Koreans are enjoying right now. Made and sounded by Korean-Americans, developed by Sony and released by Netflix, the inspiration of the film is deeply Korean.

This is a tale of mythical demon hunters whose power comes from their music – in this case it is an insolent band K -pop Girl, called Huntrix. And of course, the soundtrack that fans around the world now sing every day is rooted in the largest exports of South Korea: K-POP.

All this has caused rage in South Korea, like in so many other places, the charm of Korean culture, the film centers and even a little FOMO – because unlike the US and Canada, there are still no plans to play the movie here.

“Seeing all the videos of singing (online) in theaters … I’m jealous of Americans!” He wrote a fan of social media. Another promised: “I will even get a day off if KDH comes to theaters” – a great promise in the grueling working culture of South Korea.

Part of the Fandoma is guided by respect. Many Koreans are cautious of the cumbersome images of their country on the screen, especially given how popular the culture is currently. And to have such a global hit, to confuse him, he would sting.

“I have seen many films and dramas that touched Korean culture, but they were always full of mistakes. They will confuse it with Chinese or Japanese traditions, show actors who talk awkwardly Korean and reduce everything to a shallow imitation,” says Lee Y-Min, a woman of her 30s.

“But I was truly surprised by the KDH portrait of our culture.” Pointing to the opening scene, she says: “House of a solar roof from the Hosseon Dynasty, ordinary people in Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) with their distinctive hairstyles were almost perfect.”

She says she was “never imagined” that it would catch hearts all over the world the way there was.

The songs from the movie have become one of the most spotify -current, while the Billboard Hot 100 Track Golden Hit.

The Fandom in South Korea is no less. Surprisingly, one of the largest beneficiaries is the National Museum of Korea, which carries traditional Korean artifacts that are featured in the film.

The most visited museum in Asia, it already has queues that stretch outwards before the doors even open. He recorded over 740,000 visitors in July, over twice as much as last year.

“I arrived there at 10am, then the museum opens, but about a hundred people were already waiting,” says Lee Da-gayon, who hoped to avoid speed over the weekend, as he went on Monday.

But she still left empty -handed, “Everything I wanted, sold out.” Her list of wishes included a badge featuring a tiger and a magician – the heroes of animals of the Derpy and Sussie movie, which are inspired by a folk picture.

The sales of sales are a boost to people like Choi Nyun-Hee, who runs the craftsmanship Hemuse. “My revenue has jumped about five times,” she says, adding that her products are already being exported to the US and Australia.

She says she discovered K-POP demons when the tiger form “Norigae”, a traditional pendant, with a Pearl mother, “suddenly started to sell.”

Choi had previously worked at a museum where she developed educational programs for Korean artifacts. After watching the movie, she thought “Korean culture was well shown and woven together in history.”

For others, not only images and symbolism are resonated. “Rumi, the heroine, hides her true self from embarrassment and shame. I have contacted that,” says Lee Da-gayon. “In Korea, people are worried too much about what others think.”

Park Jin-Oo, YouTuber, who has worked in the Korean film industry, admits that he initially rejected the film as “a quirky K-POP-based animation”, but when he finally watched it, he discovered that he enjoyed it.

“I personally would like to see KDH on screen, especially at a time when South Korean cinema desperately needs films for blockbuster,” he says.

“At the moment, they are fighting for sharing the same pie, but streaming and cinemas have their own purpose. If they form trends together and if it becomes viral, will the pie not fight in the end? I think KDH can play this role.”

For him, the experience of “singing – onwards” – which is something that only cinema can offer – is one of the ways to turn a flow into a boxbaster of the box office.

More than two months after its release, the inertia of the film did not slow down – it is actually spilling into theaters. In North America, the special screenings “Sing-Along” made the K-Pop Demon Hunters the first Netflix number one movie in the box office.

Now the fans of South Korea are striving for the same experience as so many of them say online and offline: “I want to sing kdh in the cinema !!”

The film will be shown at the Busan International Film Festival in September, which has announced limited screenings of Sing-Along this year, although tickets are expected to be scarce.

Lee Y-Min, who has watched the movie more than five times in Netflix, says he was determined to go if he arrives at the cinema: “I will definitely drag my husband, he hasn’t seen him yet.”

“I’m rooting for KDH adaptation in South Korea,” a fan said online. “I know nothing has been confirmed, but I’m starting to remember all the texts.”

Another asks: “K-Pop Demon Lunters checks in North America, Canada and the United Kingdom … So why not at the K-POP home?”