Oscars 2026: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ wins award for Best Animated Feature

At the 98th Academy Awards, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’ animated musical action comedy, KPop Demon Hunters won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. The award was announced on Sunday at Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.

The film triumphed over Zootopia 2, Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, Arco and Elio to win the Oscar.

KPop Demon Hunters follows K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey, who also secretly protect the world from evil spirits. After winning the award, Maggie said in her speech, “Thank you to the Academy and to all fans who got us here, and for those of you who look like me. I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this. But it is here. And that means that the next generations don’t have to go longing. This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”

Prior to the Oscars, KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Film at the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the PGA Awards.

Along with that, The Girl Who Cried Pearls won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, beating Butterfly, Forevergreen, Retirement Plan and Three Sisters. Directed by Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens, the film follows a poor boy in Montreal in the 20th century, who falls in love with a girl whose sorrow turns into pearls.