You better sit down so HUNTR/X can show you how it’s done…in about half a decade. “KPop Demon Hunters” has established itself as the biggest pop culture phenomenon of 2025. It’s a force so powerful that it has apparently pushed Netflix to do the unthinkable and resume negotiations with AMC Theaters to screen its films, in addition to breaking box office records, Netflix viewership records and even decades-old Billboard records. A sequel was a no-brainer, the only thing missing was a finalized deal between Netflix and Sony (who owns the property rights). However, Bloomberg is now reporting that such a deal has finally been reached.
So the good news is that HUNTR/X is doing a reunion tour. The bad news is that “KPop Demon Hunters 2” will take a while, with the sequel slated to release in 2029. Yes, that’s right, four years after the original film premiered, meaning this will be the second “KPop Demon Hunters” film to arrive in the same year as a sequel to James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
As of now, there’s no word yet on whether “Kpop Demon Hunters” directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans will return for the follow-up, nor any updates on what to expect in terms of the film’s casting. “There are always side stories, and there are things that we thought about when creating this one,” Kang explained earlier this year about a potential sequel. “There are a lot of questions that are being answered, but not completely. I think there are a lot of pockets we can explore.”
You Can Blame This Spider-Man Threat for KPop Demon Hunters 2’s Delay
Although neither Netflix nor Sony have commented on this news yet, it’s no mystery why “KPop Demon Hunters 2” is going to take time. Animation in general takes longer of course, but this is still a Sony Pictures Animation production through Sony Pictures Imageworks. This is the same studio currently doing VFX work on such massive films as “Project Hail Mary” and the upcoming live-action “Spider-Man” film, as well as animation for the 2026 basketball animated film “Goat.”
Of course, Imageworks is also responsible for a little movie called “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.” You know, the movie that was originally scheduled to release in March 2024 before being delayed twice and getting a June 2027 release date. And since that movie is obviously a big priority for Sony, there’s simply no way Imageworks animators could be working on the “Spider-Verse” and “KPop Demon Hunters” sequels simultaneously. Indeed, given that they’re already in full production on the next “Spider-Verse” installment, 2029 is probably the earliest they can complete another HUNTR/X adventure. This is to say nothing of the fact that Sony’s animators are allegedly underpaid and overworked, and even less of the number of times they have to rework the same film to please their executives.
This is actually a symptom of a larger problem plaguing the animation industry (and also the visual effects industry), one that Japanese anime has been facing for years. There is simply a lack of animation studios and animators available, especially for a project of this scale. Sony isn’t going to just hand this sequel over to another studio, and Netflix doesn’t have the capacity in-house to handle a project of this size, so fans will have to wait until 2029.
