After I was 8 years-old, my brother (10 on the time) and I actually needed Professional Wrestling for the NES (Nintendo Leisure System). Professional Wrestling had a monster character known as “The Amazon” who bit his opponents’ heads — that’s just about all it took again then for a recreation to be successful. However for Christmas 1989, we bought WWF WrestleMania, a horrible recreation with actual WWF (now WWE) wrestlers. The worst half? Nobody bit anybody’s head within the formally licensed recreation. This Christmas, 8 year-olds could also be upset for one more motive.
Netflix’s (by means of Sony) most-watched-ever film KPop Demon Hunters is (nonetheless) all the trend. In case you don’t know KPop Demon Hunters but, you’ll in per week when roughly 10,000 Rumis come trick-or-treating. High quality on the HUNTR/X costumes will range, as the one choices are home made, form of rush-delivered formally licensed Spirit Halloween costumes or a generic knockoff.
Mother and father could have solely have that remaining choice come Christmas toy-shopping.
Earlier this week, Netflix signed offers with toymakers Mattel and Hasbro to fabricate KPop Demon Hunters client merchandise. Mattel will make the dolls, motion figures, equipment, collectibles and play units; Hasbro will make the stuffys, electronics and board video games. The issue is, none of these things will likely be out there for this vacation season, after they can be in peak demand.
Don’t blame the builders. Properly, not an excessive amount of.
A Netflix spokesperson advised The Hollywood Reporter that when the streamer approached its licensing companions and retailers in 2024, it obtained solely “tender” curiosity. That’s not surprising: KPop Demon Hunters was wholly new, unproven IP. One yr and 325 million views later, everyone seems to be sprinting at full velocity to catch as much as demand.
They gained’t make it for the vacations — not these holidays no less than. It’s simply not attainable.
Making toys and video games normally takes about 18 months from “idea to retailer cabinets,” Nick Karamanos, Mattel’s senior vp of leisure partnerships tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The place have been you at these pitch conferences 12-18 months in the past, Nick? (Simply kidding — till I see my daughters’ Christmas lists, maybe.)
Karamanos and his counterparts at Netflix (and possibly Hasbro, although they didn’t reply to our emails) are on it. Their stuff will start to come back out in phases from spring 2026 by means of Christmas 2026.
“That is warp-speed for us,” Karamanos mentioned. “It’s completely the quickest we’ve ever finished.”
To place it one other method: Santa’s elves couldn’t even sustain with Karamanos’ meeting line, so don’t financial institution on that loophole both, children.
And Netflix is “wildly” expediting the product-selection course of on its finish, he mentioned. Some merchandise have already been dreamt up by Mattel and authorised by the streamer — these merchandise (Karamanos couldn’t elaborate on what they’re) would be the first ones out. It helps to play catch-up with an organization you’ve labored with earlier than: Mattel makes toys for Netflix sequence Stranger Issues, Squid Sport and Bridgerton.
Pushing the pedal to the metallic right here won’t push apart high quality management, “an enormous level of emphasis for us,” Karamanos promised. One other is offering what he known as “newness” in its product line. In different phrases, Mattel isn’t simply making Barbie dolls with lengthy, purple braids (although there’ll in all probability be these too) right here. The glorious music of KPop Demon Hunters is “on the desk, completely” for his line, Karamanos mentioned.
Karamanos says he’s cool sharing the (eventual) spoils with competitor Hasbro. “They’ve a core competency they usually’re going to create merchandise of their areas that we wouldn’t, and so I want them nicely.”
An individual with data of the deal advised THR that Mattel is making about 80 % of the buyer merchandise within the Mattel/Hasbro cut up.
KPop Demon Hunters
Courtesy of Netflix
HUNTR/X followers gained’t be completely SOL this Xmas. Netflix’s personal store carries KPop Demon Hunters clothes, Funko Pop! figures, gentle sticks created by Copan World, and so forth., and themed attire continues to roll out at Amazon, Zara Youngsters, Goal, Hole, Previous Navy and Sizzling Subject.
One factor Netflix (and Mattel and Hasbro and each different firm named on this story) positively doesn’t need you doing is shopping for unlicensed KPop Demon Hunters toys (on, say, Etsy) or generic knockoffs, like “Korean Film Figures.”
Netflix says it’s going to “work carefully with our IP safety staff to take motion the place acceptable.” They’ll have assist.
“We definitely would assist Netflix go and pursue these counterfeits,” Karamanos mentioned.
