A video of a dad who goes from being “skeptical” about the hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters to watching the movie 10 times and performing a full-on dance number to its theme song has captivated viewers on YouTube.
The dad’s journey of transformation was captured in a clip posted by Aubree Jones on her social media channels (known as @whataboutaub on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram). On YouTube alone, the clip has had over 90.7 million views since it was posted on August 7.
Aubree, 37, and Josh Jones, 35, live in Utah with their five daughters, who are 12, 10, nine, seven and three years old. “The video has been playing in our home almost every day since it came out,” she told Newsweek, noting that Josh is “a stay-at-home dad, so he’s seen it [the film] at least 10 times.”
She said he “only watched it because he has five daughters” who are “huge fans” of the film.
“I thought it could be a fun movie to watch as a family, but I was skeptical because of the name and that it was anime,” Josh told Newsweek. “I was expecting to walk out after 20 minutes, but the moment they started singing the first song, I raised my eyebrows and said ‘This movie is so well made!’ We watched it the first day it came out, so it hadn’t gotten popular yet.”
Since its release in June, KPop Demon Hunters, which is produced by Sony Pictures Animation, has become Netflix’s biggest film of all time, outranking past Hollywood blockbusters including Red Notice, Don’t Look Up and The Adam Project, according to the streamer’s latest report. Its original soundtrack has topped the rankings across several charts on Billboard, Spotify and others across the globe.
The viral YouTube clip captures Josh watching KPop Demon Hunters for the first time. Standing by the couch, he’s shown staring at the television screen in intrigue, before glancing back at his daughters watching the film. The song “Golden,” the chart-topping song from the movie’s soundtrack, is playing in the background.
The clip later shows him giving the movie another go, this time joining three of his daughters on the sofa and moving his shoulders to the beat of “Golden.”
Later, as the song reaches its climax before hitting the chorus, the dad is pictured in a full KPop Demon Hunters-themed costume with two of his daughters, dressed as one of the main characters, Rumi, as the trio do a dance number in front of the television.
“This movie sparked an incredible response from me, I was shocked how much I liked it,” Josh told Newsweek, noting that “the messages of the movie were mind-blowing.”
He said: “The battle between good and evil was perfectly portrayed. The message about shame tearing us down resonated deeply. The message about fighting evil with love rather than hatred was spot on…and the music was so good! I might’ve been the one playing the songs every day on repeat for the first week. I’m not a great dancer, but I really do love everything about that movie.”
KPop Demon Hunters‘ captivating soundtrack has become a global phenomenon on its own, featuring “Golden” by HUNTR/X, the fictional girl group in the movie, and several other anthemic tunes.
“Golden” claimed the No. 1 spot on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for the fourth non-consecutive week in the week of August 16. The song also made history by becoming the first by an all-female group to top the Billboard Streaming Songs chart, according to Netflix.
In July, HUNTR/X also beat real-life global K-pop stars Blackpink on the U.S. Spotify chart with “Golden,” becoming the highest charting female K-pop band. The film’s fictional boy band Saja Boys also outranked K-pop giant BTS as the highest charting male K-pop band on the U.S. Spotify chart with their song “Your Idol.”
The movie’s catchy tunes and mesmerizing dance moves have made it a hit with younger audiences like Gen Alpha, which was “not at all” the film’s deliberate target demographic, the film’s co-director Chris Appelhans told Newsweek last month. He and his co-director Maggie Kang just “made the movie we wanted to see, with the characters, ideas and influences that we hadn’t yet seen in an animated film,” he explained.
“That said, it’s cool to see how much of the subtext the younger audience understands. I think we underestimate them a lot,” Appelhans added.
Viewers on YouTube were floored by the dad’s reaction and praised his transformation.
User @JosieMorris-n1y wrote: “That made me jump but I love how he’d do anything for his daughters even though it might be 10000 percent embarrassing.”
User @Wolfpack8x said: “bro is so obsessed bro had to turn in to rumi.”
@MiaMcDaniellovesjesus noted: “OMGOSH THIS MADE ME ROLL OUT OF MY BED TO MARS.”
@Isabella_surfs said: “Omg i love this short so much, i can’t stop watching it and laughing, LOVE THIS!!!!!!!”
@INF1NIT3SIN wrote: “Future boyfriends got a high bar to meet. Great job, Dad. BRAVO!”
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