Big franchises typically dominate the summer in family movies, but in the last two weeks, an animated original has emerged as the season’s surprise smash hit.

Produced by Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix original KPop Demon Hunters made its debut on June 20 and almost instantly took over the number-two spot on the streamer’s list of most-watched English movies, generating 9.2 million views in just three days. For the full week that followed, KPop surged up to the top spot, with 24.2 million views.

The animated musical revolves around three girls in a popular K-Pop group called Huntr/x, juggling fame and their secret double lives as demon hunters. But things take a turn when a group of demons decides to form a K-Pop boy band called the Saja Boys to hide in plain sight while draining energy from their unsuspecting fans. All of this is packaged with explosive battles, compelling cultural themes and catchy original music.

It’s hard to boil the movie’s success down to just one factor—its vibrant stylized animation (which also fueled Sony’s hit Spider-Verse film series) and its four-quadrant appeal have helped it expand well beyond its tween target audience.

But you can’t count out one intrinsic element—the film’s fundamental connection to the K-Pop music genre, which has become a mainstay on the global charts thanks to its passionate young fandoms. (Canadian prodcos Pillango and Aircraft Productions successfully leveraged the same market opportunity into last year’s CBC tween series Gangnam Project, which quickly scored buyers globally and rolled out a second season in March.)

KPop Demon Hunters is also dominating the music charts, with a soundtrack released by Republic Records currently sitting in eighth spot on the Billboard 200. (The last film soundtrack to debut in the top 10 was the star-studded Universal live-action film Wicked in November.)

The fictional Saja Boys also posted the highest-charting track on Spotify in the US on Friday, with “Your Idol”. And it’s the first-ever number-one on this chart in the US for a male K-pop group, beating out the real-world superstars of BTS, who reached number-three with the song “Dynamite” in 2020.

Not to let their rivals get the best of them, Huntr/x is also heating up the charts as the top-streamed girl group on Spotify in terms of daily streams. The trio’s song “Golden” debuted at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and its streams have increased by 2,000% on Apple Music since it was released. Netflix is particularly bullish about this hit track (which plays a pivotal role in the film) and will reportedly be submitting it for awards consideration.

Sales for KPop Demon Hunters‘ merch collection are also picking up in a big way. While specific sales data isn’t available, a Huntr/x Tee and a Derpy Tiger plush are now among the top five bestsellers on the Netflix Shop this year.