Marquette SZenior High School alum Gabe Thorburn holds "KPop Demon Hunters’" Oscar. (Photo courtesy of Gabe Thorburn)

MARQUETTE — The Netflix movie “KPop Demon Hunters” took the world by storm last summer, quickly becoming the streaming platform’s most viewed movie of all time. This success was in part to Marquette native Gabe Thorburn, who worked on the film as an associate editor.

Thorburn, who graduated from MSHS in 2001 and from NMU in 2009, has been working in video and film since high school.

“I discovered editing during my senior year at MSHS through an internship at the former Superior Productions in Marquette,” said Thorburn. “During my first semester at Northern, I purchased a video camera, a Mac, and a copy of Final Cut Pro. I taught myself how to use the software and started making my own films. They weren’t very good at first, but during my second semester I created a documentary — that’s when I really started to understand editing.”

Thorburn got his start working at several local Marquette businesses, including the aforementioned Superior Productions.

“Later, I worked at the former Video Concepts on Third Street, where I had professional editing opportunities with real deadlines early in my career while continuing to attend Northern,” said Thorburn.

Now Thorburn works in Hollywood, where he has contributed his editing abilities to several big animated productions like “Luck” (Apple TV+, 2022) and “Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans” (Netflix, 2021). “KPop Demon Hunters,” though, is by far his biggest hit yet.

“In 2022, I was asked to join (KPop Demon Hunters) as an associate editor by a lead editor I’ve worked with on multiple projects since 2008,” said Thorburn. “I worked on editing and building animatics for “KPop Demon Hunters” for over two years, watching the movie evolve throughout that time.

“Animatics are a unique part of animation editing — they involve cutting together hundreds or even thousands of storyboard images to bring scenes to life and evaluate the story before full animation begins.”

“KPop Demon Hunters” is an animated musical telling the story of three women: Rumi, Mira and Zoey, in a KPop (Korean Pop) group named Huntrix. Their mission is to protect the world from demons with the power of their music. However, the demons fight back with their own KPop group, called the Suja Boys, who begin stealing Huntrix’s fans and making the world more vulnerable to demon attacks.

“It’s hard to pick a favorite part — I worked on a wide range of scenes including comedy, drama, action, and music,” said Thorburn. “Since the film is a musical and has been recognized for its music, working on the animatics for the “Golden” performance and the “Takedown” sequence were especially fun.”

The film has over 500 million views and became popular with children and adults alike.

“It happened fast, and it was hard to wrap my mind around it at first — hearing them play the songs on the organ at Dodgers Stadium on TV, during the World Series, and seeing kids around the world being obsessed with the movie, along with their parents,” said Thorburn.

“To me, it was something I had worked on closely with a team for two years before anyone had seen it. Then suddenly it became Netflix’s most-watched film of all time — it’s still hard to fully comprehend.”

“KPop Demon Hunter’s” meteoric rise culminated in this year’s awards season, where it won both the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film and the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Animated Feature, among others. At the Annie Awards, a ceremony dedicated to honoring the best in American animated cinema, “KPop Demon Hunters” won all 10 awards that it had been nominated for.

“After it won the Oscars, it’s officially recognized in cinema history, along with an upcoming Criterion Collection release, which shows the cultural impact the movie has had,” said Thorburn. “I wasn’t able to attend the Oscars, but the Annie Awards were an incredible experience because ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ won every single category it was nominated for. It was quite the team celebration for the whole crew — and then to also get to win in my category, Best Editorial – Feature, and to go on stage to accept the award with the editorial team in front of the best in the animation industry was an amazing honor.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.