thenovelthief Chapter 286 - History (1)
Chapter 286 - History (1)
Chapter 286: History (1)
Translator: Dreamscribe
Ryu Jung-min, with a deepened smile, continued speaking while making eye contact with Kang Woojin.
“You’re assuming you’ll definitely take the stage at the Cannes Film Festival, right?”
At this question, Kang Woojin’s face hardened even more.
“......”
He was more serious than ever. Though he didn’t say it outwardly, he was internally responding to Ryu Jung-min.
‘What nonsense is this handsome guy spouting??!’
Why on earth was he thinking that far ahead? Couldn’t he just take things as they are? Woojin was frustrated, but this handsome guy, no, top actor Ryu Jung-min, had a refreshed expression.
Because his curiosity was satisfied.
“Haha, it’s so like you, Woojin-ssi. To think you’d already be preparing your acceptance speech, including the greetings— and in French, no less. Unless you’re certain of winning an award, there’s no need to prepare like that.”
Kang Woojin caught a whiff of a strong misunderstanding. But in this situation, acting cool was still the right move. Whatever, it would be funny to try and take it back now.
“...I’m planning to do the rest in Korean after the first line.”
Ryu Jung-min, who had been shaking his head as if in amazement or admiration, added more words.
“You really don’t have even 1% doubt about not winning an award? Is receiving an award a default for you?”
Default? What default. In French, all I said was that I wanted to eat meat. Ryu Jung-min, who couldn’t possibly know this, suddenly folded his arms and turned serious.
“Hmm- But giving an acceptance speech in French.”
“......”
“I’ve never won an award at Cannes. But if you give a short acceptance speech in French at Cannes......everyone would probably be shocked and give you a standing ovation.”
“...Is that so?”
“Indeed. To begin with, the number of Korean actors who have won awards at the massive Cannes Film Festival is very few. In addition to Hollywood actors, directors, and famous figures, there are also many French officials. Since the Cannes Film Festival is primarily French. If a Korean actor gives a speech in French, it would be deeply moving at the very least.”
Well, that’s probably true. Kang Woojin immediately understood Ryu Jung-min’s point. When an actor from a foreign country, who speaks a completely different language, speaks in the local language, it significantly boosts their likeability. This was similar to how Hollywood actors who visit Korea speak in Korean.
Here, Ryu Jung-min suddenly seemed to have an idea and spoke again.
“Oh, but Woojin-ssi, your English is also at a native level, isn’t it?”
Later.
At Harmony Film Company, after finishing the meeting about the final promotional efforts that included Kang Woojin’s support, Woojin was on his way to the set of ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ while being briefed by Choi Sung-gun.
“Starting tomorrow, the majority of surprise and impromptu visits will be in Seoul. You heard it in the meeting earlier, right?”
For reference, several issues were discussed in the Harmony Film Company meeting. It was about how to utilize Kang Woojin’s promotional support. Many ideas were proposed. One of them was Kang Woojin’s idea, which included the words ‘surprise’ and ‘impromptu’.
“It’ll be a bit more intense, but let’s put in the effort. We need to fill in the promotional schedule that we missed due to our circumstances.”
Of course, Kang Woojin accepted most of it.
‘Island of the Missing’, with the triumphant return of Kang Woojin, had gained some momentum again, but as the release date was quite some time ago, the excitement was gradually fading. Without a shocking move at this point, there was a possibility it would stop just short of the performance of ‘Sea Battle’.
Soon.
-Swish.
Woojin, listening to Choi Sung-gun’s briefing with an indifferent face, secretly took out his phone. Then he checked the current performance of ‘Island of the Missing’. Today was the 7th, so it was the performance as of yesterday.
[Audience Count as of June 6, 2021]
[Daily Domestic Box Office]
1. Island of the Missing / Release Date: May 19 / Audience: 497,558 / Screens: 1159 / Cumulative Audience: 13,932,969
14 million viewers. ‘Island of the Missing’ had entered the top 10 highest-grossing films of all time, and it was indeed a tremendous achievement. However, compared to the initial release, the audience count had clearly dropped, and to surpass the number one film, ‘Sea Battle’, it still needed about 3 million more viewers.
Kang Woojin, looking down at his phone, murmured to himself.
‘3 million- 3 million, huh.’
Thinking in simple terms, it seemed possible to surpass it in about ten days, but from the meeting held today at Harmony Film Company and Choi Sung-gun’s words, it didn’t seem that easy.
‘Wasn’t it said that the number of moviegoers sharply drops during the latter half of a film’s run?’
At a certain point, the drop in audience numbers becomes severe. While the film might attract 500,000 viewers in a single day during its initial release, a few weeks later, this can drop to as low as 100,000 viewers. Some films even see numbers fall to 50,000.
‘Yeah, it was like that during ‘Drug Dealer’ too.’e films rapidly climb to around 3 million viewers but collapse overnight, closing out at 3.5 million. What if ‘Island of the Missing’ gets close to 16 million and then suddenly stops? If it were entirely impossible, it wouldn’t matter, but being so close and still losing would be very unsatisfying.
‘Ah- shit, just imagining it pisses me off?’
At least that’s how Kang Woojin thought.
Losing the throne right before your eyes? Even though second place is an impressive achievement, it doesn’t have the same impact as being first. Isn’t it cooler to be the number one movie that took the crown rather than the one that just threatened it?
Moreover, ‘Island of the Missing’ had another challenge.
Choi Sung-gun, sitting in the passenger seat, sighed quietly and murmured.
“Phew- If it could just reach the high 17 million range, the picture would be much prettier. Both for taking first place and maintaining first place in the future as well.”
While taking the throne as the number one Korean film was important, setting an unprecedented record for the future was also necessary. An overwhelming audience number that other chasing films couldn’t dream of surpassing.
If that happened, Kang Woojin would get another ‘first’ title. His first leading film achieving an unprecedented number of viewers in the Korean film industry.
It was enough to make one’s mouth water.
It wasn’t just about putting on a show; it was Kang Woojin’s pure desire and ambition. Or perhaps it was competitiveness. Coming this far only to fall short at the final hurdle would be beyond disappointing—it would feel frustrating. It seemed like something he would remember for the rest of his life.
‘Having come this far, I’ll turn it around even if my body breaks. No matter what.’
The next day, around noon.
The location was a large multiplex cinema near Dogok Station. It was the largest cinema in the area, and despite it being a weekday afternoon, the lobby was crowded with people.
“Wow- Is that really the line for the concession stand?”
“Why are there so many people? Ah, shit, I told you we should have gone to a smaller cinema.”
“You idiot, how could I have known there would be this many people??”
There were quite a few college groups, couples, and even students in school uniforms. It was truly the peak season for cinemas. Moreover, the quality of recently released films was high. The phenomenon of ‘Island of the Missing’ was ongoing, and new movies kept drawing audiences to the theaters.
Thus, promotional wars were happening all over the cinema.
“Amazing! Really, totally amazing!!”
“Waaah!”
Hundreds of spectators, as if on cue, raised their phones above their heads. Almost everyone did. Of course, influencer Joo Arang was no exception.
“Crazy!! Kyak!!!”
Her mask slightly slipped off, but she had no time to fix it as she continued taking photos frantically.
It was then.
The last actor to appear was a black-haired actor wearing a toned-down beige blazer over a white tee.
It was Kang Woojin with an indifferent face.
-Swoosh.
The eyes of the hundreds of spectators grew wide.
“Whoa!! K-Kang Woojin!”
They started taking pictures of Kang Woojin like crazy.
A few days later, on the 11th. At night.
It was late Friday night. The location was the set of ‘Leech’. As they were deep into the later part of filming, Director Ahn Ga-bok, the hundred or so staff, and the actors all had tense expressions. Of course, this included Kang Woojin, who was in front of the camera as ‘Park Ha-seong’.
Amidst this, a signal from Director Ahn Ga-bok spread.
“Cut. OK.”
Soon after, Director Ahn Ga-bok approached Kang Woojin, who had just shed his ‘Park Ha-seong’ persona.
“You worked hard today. We’ll be on standby a bit earlier tomorrow, so rest as much as you can.”
“Understood, Director~nim.”
Although it was close to midnight, the ‘Leech’ team hadn’t finished all their filming. Only Kang Woojin’s parts were done; there were still more scenes to shoot. Regardless, Woojin and his team moved in the van. For reference, today Kang Woojin wasn’t going home but moving to a nearby hotel.
-Drreeeek!
Soon, Kang Woojin boarded the van. On the outside, his poker face was still strong, but inside, he was obviously exhausted. Recently, due to the promotional efforts for ‘Island of the Missing’, even ten bodies wouldn’t have been enough.
‘If I hadn’t used the void space, I might have died.’
As Woojin mumbled inwardly, the van left the external parking lot of the set. Kang Woojin was looking out the window at the pitch-black darkness.
‘Ah.’
Realizing something, he took out his phone. First, he reduced the brightness on his phone, and the figures he had been looking at during the break earlier were still displayed.
[All-time Box Office in South Korea]
[All-time Movie Rankings (Combined)]
-1. Sea Battle / Total Audience: 16,715,955
-2. Island of the Missing / Total Audience: 16,281,337
-3. Unstoppable Force / Total Audience: 15,557,118
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·
It was the all-time box office rankings in Korea. Practically the history of the Korean film industry. On the chart, ‘Island of the Missing’ had reached the cusp of ‘Sea Battle’, but it was still in second place. Of course, this didn’t include today’s Friday numbers. Thanks to Kang Woojin’s promotional efforts, ‘Island of the Missing’ had surged again.
Currently, the media was in a frenzy. It was an unprecedented topic of interest.
Kang Woojin put down his phone. The more he looked, the more anxious he felt.
‘Tomorrow, tomorrow for sure.’
Then, the next morning. Kang Woojin, with messy hair, opened his eyes in the accommodation’s bed and.
“Phone.”
He immediately grabbed the phone placed at his bedside. He saw several messages and texts had arrived, but Kang Woojin had no time to check them.
-Swoosh.
He first had to refresh the page he had been looking at yesterday. Soon, the updated figures began to display on his phone.
Seeing this, Kang Woojin unknowingly muttered.
“Shit, it really happened?”
His eyes widened slightly. It was understandable.
[All-time Box Office in South Korea]
[All-time Movie Rankings (Combined)]
-1. Island of the Missing / Total Audience: 16,752,991
-2. Sea Battle / Total Audience: 16,715,955
-3. Unstoppable Force / Total Audience: 15,557,118
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It was a moment when the history of Korean cinema was rewritten.
*****
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