Chapter 460: Prelude (3) |
- [‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ will have an early release in 33 theaters in LA and New York on February 9. The screening period will be about two weeks. Of course, following the ‘Academy Awards’ schedule, the worldwide release will proceed. Our ‘Columbia Studios’ is undertaking several challenges, and your enthusiastic support is a great strength to us. Thank you.]
‘Columbia Studios’ strongly emphasized its challenge regarding the ‘Cinematic Universe’ and the ‘Academy Awards’ along with the early release date of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ on February 9. Additionally, they uploaded the locations and information of the 33 theaters in LA and New York.
With this, all information regarding the early release of ‘Pierrot’ was revealed.
Naturally, this announcement merely signaled the beginning. The team at ‘Columbia Studios’ had already arranged a packed promotional marketing schedule for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ ahead of the early release. Even if it was only a release in 33 theaters, money was being spent on this movement, and the results had to be unquestionably good.
Sure, it also carried the meaning of fulfilling the conditions for the ‘Academy Awards’, but the short two-week early release period was, in a way, a preliminary inspection of the entire box office potential of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’.
From the evaluations of the audience and experts at that time, to performance indicators, word of mouth, and buzz, etc.
If the performance during the early release was good, it could naturally bring positive winds to the ‘Academy Awards’, and it would also influence the later global release. Therefore, ‘Columbia Studios’ had to go all in for this early release. Whatever the case, the announcement through the official SNS was instantly flooded with reactions. Numerous languages from around the world, including Korean and English, filled the comments.
-Early release? This is to meet the Academy Awards requirements.
-Why is it only releasing in LA and New York!! And only 33 theaters?? Damn! I'm giving up
-Nice! One of the 33 theaters is close to my house!!
-Hey Columbia, do you really, sincerely believe Kang Woojin can achieve something at the Academy Awards?
-I’m curious, but... going all the way to LA just to watch a movie... is tough.
-I wonder how the movie turned out? If the trailer is all there is, it's not worth watching
-Open ticket sales now! I’m booking immediately!!
-Watching the early release will let us judge whether Kang Woojin will be booed or applauded at the Oscars.
At that moment, Kang Woojin had met with the team of the movie ‘Guest’. As everyone’s attention focused entirely on him, Jennifer Thurman, the CEO of ‘A8 Media’, who was seeing Kang Woojin in person for the first time, stared at him in a daze for a moment.
“Ah.”
Snapping out of it, she quickly extended her hand to Kang Woojin.
“This is our first meeting, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Jennifer Thurman from ‘A8 Media’.”
With a deep poker face, Woojin shook her hand.
“I’m Kang Woojin.”
His low, deep voice brushed past Jennifer's ear.
‘Wow, he feels way more cynical than I thought? He even has a subtly rough aura.’
Kang Woojin, inwardly, was also getting startled as he looked at her.
‘She’s really tall, isn’t she almost the same height as me??! Insane. Seriously, everything in America is huge.’
While such short misunderstandings were stacking up, Miley Cara, the female lead of ‘Guest’, suddenly approached Woojin.
“You’re the last one.”
“I arrived on time though.”
Then, smiling, Chris Hartnett also placed his hand on Kang Woojin’s shoulder and joined in.
“Miley, hold it in. Kang Woojin is a huge star, after all. By the way, Woojin. You said you might not come, but here you are.”
“The timing worked out.”
At this point, Miley Cara suddenly twitched her brow.
“You two talk really comfortably? When did you become so close?”
Chris shrugged his shoulders.
“Woojin and I are friends both in ‘Pierrot’ and in real life.”
Blonde-haired Cara, who had stared at Chris Hartnett for a moment, immediately spoke to Kang Woojin.
“Be comfortable with me too.”
With her serious expression, possibly from being sulky, Kang Woojin almost broke out of his composed character. Barely managing to find his tone, he answered indifferently.
“I don’t mind.”
“Damn it, I don’t like that I got comfortable with you later than Chris.”
“Hey hey Miley, that’s a bit harsh, no?”
The three actors continued their conversation without hesitation. Kang Woojin, mingling with Hollywood's top stars, didn’t seem out of place at all. On top of that, the director and key staff of ‘Guest’ also surrounded Kang Woojin and joined in the atmosphere. Jennifer Thurman silently observed this scene. The freckled male employee approached her with a question, seeing the deep smile on her lips.
“...CEO, it’s a cameo appearance, but somehow the vibe makes it feel like Kang Woojin is the lead?”
With a soft chuckle, Jennifer looked at Kang Woojin standing at the center among Hollywood big shots and responded.
“That’s what you call influence and command. A power that draws others in without having to do anything special.”
After observing the situation for several tens of minutes, Jennifer Thurman had everyone seated. Soon, the ㅁ-shaped table filled with big names, and the movie ‘Guest’ was ready to roll forward with these members.
And then.
“Woojin.”
Choi Sung-gun whispered to Kang Woojin.
“Columbia just announced the early release date for ‘Pierrot’.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yeah. Judging by the comments, it’s a mess. Anyway-”
Shaking his head, Choi Sung-gun added another remark.
"I also delivered the plane tickets to your family."
Later.
The official announcement of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ spread across not just Hollywood, but
『BBX / Columbia throws down the gauntlet for the Academy Awards, announces early release date for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’!』
Also South Korea and Japan.
『[Breaking] Kang Woojin’s ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ to be released early in 33 theaters across LA and New York on February 9 to aim for the Academy Awards』
The news quickly spread globally. Naturally, South Korea erupted.
-Ahh!! Ack!!! Please release it early in Korea too!! Please!!! ㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠ
-Ha... I’m dying... I'm booking a flight to LA right now!!!
-This early release really is somethingㅋㅋㅋㅋSince it’s before the Academy Awardsㅋㅋㅋ
-But what happens if it gets an early release and still doesn’t make it to the Oscar nominations?
-What do you mean what happensㅋㅋㅋㅋIt just gets screwed, that’s what
Hollywood and the global public were even louder. Thanks to that, promotional buzz for ‘Pierrot’ was running smoothly on its own, but ‘Columbia Studios’ did not let down its guard and immediately the next day.
-【‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’】3rd trailer｜Columbia Studios
They accelerated their promotions with an additional trailer and several publicity campaigns.
And so, for several days, Hollywood was flooded with ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. But then, a different issue exploded, and another film started chasing ‘Pierrot’ closely.
『LA TIME / Miley Cara and Chris Hartnett to co-star in upcoming project!』
It was the movie ‘Guest’. Miley Cara and Chris Hartnett, both of whom had close ties to Kang Woojin and had recently finished filming, were confirmed as dual leads. Things were already buzzing because of Kang Woojin, and with Cara and Hartnett suddenly locked in as main leads, the spotlight naturally intensified.
Korea was even more hyped than Hollywood.
-No wayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋMiley Cara and Chris Hartnett are the leads?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThis is realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow... that’s insane.... It was already surprising that bw Entertainment was the main investor, but now Hollywood top-tier stars are starring...
-InsaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThis is 100% related to Kang WoojinㅋㅋㅋㅋCara was already close to him and Hartnett got friendly through Pierrot
-Please let Exorcism blow up!!
-↑It’s not Exorcism, it’s Guest. It’s the Hollywood remake.
-I meanㅋㅋㅋㅋIf Guest does well too, Kang Woojin and bw are both going to skyrocketㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It was only natural, since two top global stars had suddenly been cast as leads.
Though ‘Guest’ was produced by a Hollywood company, its original work was Kang Woojin’s ‘Exorcism’, and the main investor was bw Entertainment, so this issue was immediately covered by domestic news outlets. As such, whether it was ‘Pierrot’ or ‘Beast and the Beauty’ or ‘Guest’, the world was abuzz with news related to Kang Woojin, but surprisingly, the protagonist himself was quiet.
Kang Woojin, that is.
‘It’s harder than I thought to match the lip movements in post-recording. Singing the OST was easier than this.’
Currently, Kang Woojin was consumed by a hectic schedule dealing with various topics daily. The most important was ‘Beast and the Beauty’, which had officially entered the editing phase a few days ago. Though filming had been completed, due to the heavy use of CG, post-recording was also a critical task.
For about a week already, Kang Woojin had been moving back and forth between sound studios and recording booths.
-♬♪
He was in the middle of recording vocals and ADR for 'Beast'. And that wasn’t all, he also had to attend post-production meetings and promotional events for 'Pierrot', including advertising, interviews, photo shoots, and public appearances. On top of that, he couldn’t neglect his personal SNS or filming for 'Kang Woojin’s Alter Ego'. (TL Note: ADR is Automatic Dialogue Replacement)
Time melted away, each day disappearing in a blur.
‘Ugh! I’m going crazy, completely crazy!’
And just like that, it was January 27.
As the end of January approached, Kang Woojin could be found at 'Columbia Studios'. Before a major YouTube shoot tied to 'Pierrot' promotions, Columbia’s executives had requested a meeting with him.
Kang Woojin, with a solemn expression was.
“......”
Alone, without Choi Sung-gun.
‘This atmosphere is heavy as hell. Why are they all so serious? Guess I better crank up the concept mode.’
Across from him sat more than five Columbia executives, some familiar, some new. All wore serious expressions. Then, the bald executive he recognized handed Kang Woojin a thick bundle of papers.
“Mr. Kang Woojin, this is what we spoke about previously. We proposed three films to you, including ‘Pierrot.’ They’re the early entries in the ‘Cinematic Universe.’ Naturally, all were offered to you in the role of the ‘Joker’.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“The first draft of the second film’s script is ready.”
In other words, it was the film following 'Pierrot'. This had been discussed before, but Kang Woojin had previously insisted on reviewing the script before giving any answer.
‘Oho- a script? Let’s check it out right away!’
Despite his inner excitement, Kang Woojin replied outwardly in a very cold tone.
“I’ll take a look first.”
He quietly picked up the script. After glancing at the English title on the cover, he opened to the first page, pretending, that is.
-Poke!
He poked the black square attached to the script. Instantly, Kang Woojin’s world transformed into a pitch-dark void space. Yawning loudly as he dropped the concept act.
“Let’s see, what grade does it get?”
He walked toward the lined-up white rectangles. The first to catch his eye was the film 'Guest'.
-[14/Script (Title: Guest), SSS-grade]
In the meantime, 'Guest' had soared to SSS-grade. Kang Woojin smirked.
“Of course. With Miley Cara and Chris Hartnett attached, it’d be weird if it didn’t rise.”
Sure, it might go up or down again in the future, but for now, he had every reason to be pleased. After all, part of that multi-billion won investment was his own money.
"Hehe."
Still grinning, Woojin shifted his gaze. It landed on a newly updated script in the void space.
-[15/Script (Title: Bat: The Birth of a Hero), EX-grade]
-[*This is a highly complete movie script. 100% reading is possible.]
Kang Woojin’s smile deepened into something reminiscent of the 'Joker'.
“Starting at EX-grade? This is a jackpot.”
A few days later.
Friday, February 3, morning.
With about a week left until the early release of 'Pierrot', Kang Woojin was inside a van. It was cruising through downtown LA from early morning. What stood out was that its destination wasn’t 'Columbia Studios' or even 'World Disney Pictures'.
But it was one of Hollywood’s 'Big Five'.
''Universal Movies', we're almost there.'
Kang Woojin’s destination was 'Universal Movies'. The reason was simple.
'It's been a while since I'll see that giant man.'
The script reading for the film 'John Persona', produced by Joseph Felton as executive producer, was starting in an hour. That meant the first shoot for 'John Persona' was just around the corner, right after the crank-up of 'Beast and the Beauty'.
However, the script Kang Woojin was currently reading wasn’t 'John Persona'.
‘It really is fun. No wonder it’s rated EX-grade.’
It was the second film in the 'Cinematic Universe' that he had received from 'Columbia Studios' a few days ago. 'Bat: The Birth of a Hero', which had been rated EX-grade right from the start by the void space. The grade was satisfyingly high, but concept-wise, it would be weird to say yes right away, so for now, Woojin had simply taken the script.
‘You’d be an idiot not to do this. I guess it’s time to give them a positive answer.’
Soon, Woojin lifted his gaze and called out to the man in the passenger seat with a ponytail, Choi Sung-gun.
“CEO-nim.”
“......”
“I was thinking of telling Columbia that I’ll do ‘Bat: The Birth of a Hero’-”
As Kang Woojin was speaking, he slightly furrowed his brow at Choi Sung-gun’s silence and changed his question.
“CEO-nim, is something wrong?”
Choi Sung-gun, who had been looking down at his phone, lifted his head and let out a long sigh.
“Ha- what is this now?”
“What is it?”
“I think this just popped up... I don’t even know how to describe it. Just look.”
Choi Sung-gun turned his phone around and showed the screen to Kang Woojin. An article was displayed on the screen. Woojin, reading the title, kept a calm expression outwardly, but
“Hmm.”
On the inside, he was screaming in absurd panic.
‘Eh???! Ehhk??!’
And it was understandable.
For the first time since his debut, Kang Woojin was hit with.
『CNM / Miley Cara seen leaving Kang Woojin’s house, the two are in love / Photos』
A dating scandal.
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TL Note: Hi, this novel is now complete on Patreon. I will post new chapters daily for free readers, but if you wish, you can read all of it on my Patreon.
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