A Korean fan's guide to the 98th Academy Awards
The 98th Academy Awards, to be held at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on Sunday, could shape up to be a landmark night for Korean cinema and Korean-rooted filmmaking.
Two films with direct ties to Korea are in the running: one an overwhelming awards-season favorite and the other a dark-horse entry that gives one of the most eccentric works in Korean cinema its due.
The night's headline act for fans of Korean content will be Netflix's animated sensation "KPop Demon Hunters," which goes into Sunday's ceremony as perhaps the closest thing to a sure bet on the night. As of Saturday night local time, prediction market Polymarket gives it a 93 percent chance of taking home Best Animated Feature and an 87 percent shot at Best Original Song for "Golden."
Directed by Korean Canadian Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the Sony Pictures Animation production has swept virtually every major precursor, including the Golden Globes, Critics' Choice Awards, Annie Awards (all 10 nominations), and the Producers Guild Award for Best Animated Feature.
Technically, "KPop Demon Hunters" is a US production from Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation, but by most meaningful measures, it is about as Korean as a film gets. Kang, who left Seoul at age five and grew up in Canada, has spoken openly about how her experience as an immigrant shaped the project -- and the results show.
The film is packed with precisely observed details of everyday Korean life: the mix of puffer coats and T-shirts on Seoul streets when the weather turns, napkins tucked under chopsticks at a restaurant table, narrow alleys lined with illegally parked cars despite no-parking markings painted on the ground.
For K-pop fans watching at home, the main event may well be the live performance of "Golden." Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami -- the voices behind Huntrix, the fictional K-pop trio at the center of the film -- will take the Oscar stage, opening with a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance. It will mark the first time a K-pop song has ever been performed live at the ceremony.
K-drama fans will also want to tune in early for the red carpet. Actor Ahn Hyo-seop, who voices Jinu, leader of the demon boy band Saja Boys in the film, will attend the ceremony, the actor's agency confirmed Friday.
While the Korean Canadian actor is a familiar face to viewers through hits like "Dr. Romantic 2" and the Netflix romantic comedy "Business Proposal," the animated film's global run has added considerably to his international profile.
His appearance reflects a broader shift in how the Academy has approached its guest list in recent years. Looking to connect with younger, globally engaged viewers, the organization has grown more receptive to television and streaming talent who have no direct stake in the nominations.
Last year's red carpet included Rowoon, a former SF9 member who had recently wrapped Disney+'s "The Murky Stream," alongside "XO, Kitty" co-stars Lee Sang-heon and Gia Kim.
The crossover logic is straightforward: Korean stars bring with them some of the most active and digitally engaged fanbases in the world, and their presence on the red carpet may help deliver the kind of social media buzz that an awards show with declining youth viewership needs.
Korean film buffs will find something else worth watching in the Best Picture race. "Bugonia," the English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan's "Save the Green Planet!," picked up four nominations this year: best picture, best actress for Emma Stone, best original score, and best adapted screenplay.
A win in any category would almost certainly direct audiences back to the 2003 original, which was not a commercial success on release but built a devoted cult following over the two decades since.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film follows two conspiracy theorists who kidnap the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, convinced she is an alien bent on destroying the Earth.
Jang was originally set to direct the remake himself but stepped back due to health issues, remaining on as an executive producer. The adapted screenplay credit -- and any potential Oscar that comes with it -- goes to Will Tracy, the former editor-in-chief of "The Onion" and a writer on "Succession."
The film's chances in any of its nominated categories are slim; Polymarket puts each well under one percent. Still, it means something that a remake of one of Korean cinema's most genuinely strange and original works has landed on the best picture ballot -- a sign of how far the industry's appetite for Korean source material has traveled in recent years.
The 98th Academy Awards ceremony begins Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, with the red carpet from 6:30 p.m.
In Korea, the ceremony will air live on OCN at 8 a.m. Monday (Korea time) and stream on Tving. Disney+ will carry an English-language broadcast starting at 7:30 a.m.
Copyright © 코리아헤럴드. 무단전재 및 재배포 금지.