Aura Entertainment has acquired Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut, K-Pops!, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.
The acquisition comes on the heels of the film’s U.S. premiere at 2025 Tribeca Festival; it premiered last year the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The Stampede Ventures and Live Nation Productions-produced movie stars .Paak, Jonnie “Dumbfoundead” Park, Yvette Nicole Brown, and .Paak’s real-life teen son, Soul Rasheed.
“With exceptional talent on both sides of the camera, K-Pops! is a perfect fit for our Aura slate,” CEO Marc Goldberg said in a statement. “Anderson .Paak brings so much heart, humor, and authenticity to this story. As the popularity of K-pop continues to grow across the U.S., this film will be perfect to kick off the New Year.”
The film follows musician BJ (.Paak) and his quest for stardom. “K-Pops! follows a washed-up American musician who stumbles upon a second chance at fame by cashing in on the rise of his long-lost K-pop star son,” the film’s synopsis reads. “But as he dives into the world of boy bands and viral fame, he discovers that being a father means more than being in the spotlight.”
“I’m beyond excited to share K-Pops! with audiences,” .Paak said in a statement. “The film is an incredibly personal project for me, especially working alongside my son throughout the entire process. Stampede, Big Dummy, EST, and Live Nation have been amazing partners as we’ve created the film, and I’m thrilled to bring Aura onto the team. Their bold vision makes me confident this film will break through in a big way.”
Ahead of its 2024 TIFF premiere, .Paak told THR that the idea for the film came during the COVID-19 lockdown, when his son declared he wanted to be a YouTuber. The Grammy Award-winning performer said he and his son starting messing around with skits when getting started and .Paak realized his son was gifted as an improviser. “I started getting super into it. I was filming all of them and I was staying up super late to edit the videos so we could post them,” he explained.
“Around this time, my whole house was obsessed with K-pop. His mom is full Korean and I’m part Korean, too, but I didn’t know anything about my Korean heritage. I’m always pushing for him to learn about his Black side. I’m like, ‘You know about BTS. What about BET?’” he added. “I thought this could be a funny story: What if I wasn’t involved in my son’s life, he was raised in Korea, and I found out about him later and we have to learn about each other’s cultures.”
K-Pops! was co-written by .Paak and Khaila Amazan and is expected to be released in January 2026. The film was produced by Greg Silverman and Jon Berg of Stampede Ventures, Jaeson Ma of EST Studios, .Paak and Park. It’s executive producers include Chris Bosco, Michael Tadross, Gideon Yu and Grant Torre for Stampede Ventures; Michael Rapino and Ryan Kroft of Live Nation Productions; Eric Tu of EST Studios; Jeffrey Azoff and Anna Savage of Full Stop Management; and Khaila Amazan and Kevin Nishimura.
