January 13, 2026
SEOUL – Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” took home two trophies at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards Sunday night (local time), claiming best motion picture in the animated category after picking up the best original song prize earlier in the evening for “Golden.”
The global phenomenon — which has logged over 541 million hours viewed worldwide — beat out “Arco,” “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” “Elio,” “Little Amelie or the Character of Rain” and “Zootopia 2.” The film also earned a nomination for cinematic and box office achievement.
The double win comes on the heels of the film’s showing at the Critics’ Choice Awards on Jan. 4, where it also swept best animated feature and best song.
At Sunday’s ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, EJAE, the Korean-American songwriter on the film and the singing voice of lead character Rumi, delivered an emotional acceptance speech as she collected the best original song prize.
“Rejection is redirection, so never give up,” she said, before quoting her own lyrics: “It’s never too late to shine like you’re born to be.”
Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans took the stage together to accept the best animation prize for “KPop Demon Hunters.”
“Through this film we really wanted to depict female characters the way that we know women, which is really strong and bold,” Kang said.
Appelhans called the film a “love letter to music … to the power it has to connect us, to make us see some kind of shared humanity.”
The animated feature also qualified for Oscar consideration through a limited theatrical run in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco in June. It landed on the Academy’s original song shortlist last month.
Meanwhile, Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,” produced by CJ ENM and distributed in North America by Neon, missed out on the best non-English language film trophy, which went to Brazil’s “The Secret Agent.”
The thriller also contended for best motion picture in the musical or comedy category and best actor for Lee Byung-hun, but came up short in both races — Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” claimed best picture, while Timothee Chalamet took the acting trophy for “Marty Supreme.”
Anderson’s nearly three-hour epic was the night’s biggest winner, leading all titles with nine nominations and taking home four trophies including best director and best supporting actress for Teyana Taylor.