Omniscient Reader director: Film does not replace original web novel but deepens the universe

SINGAPORE – South Korean film-maker Kim Byung-woo, director of South Korean fantasy Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, was not going to let a passionate fan base paralyse him creatively.

His first concern was making a good movie rather than worrying about whether followers of the source material – the popular web novel Omniscient Reader (2018 to 2020), with more than 200 million views globally – would cry foul if it failed to be a faithful adaptation.

“If I think about too many elements of the web novel, then the film wouldn’t be good or meaningful. My first priority was to make this a very entertaining film for the audience,” says Kim, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

He was speaking through an interpreter to The Straits Times at a press event at Marina Bay Sands on July 29. He and lead actors Ahn Hyo-seop and Lee Min-ho were in town to promote the film, which is showing in cinemas.

Positive fan reactions can push a live-action movie derived from a webtoon, web novel, anime or manga to box-office success, as with South Korean fantasy film Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds (2017) and its 2018 sequel. They were adapted from a 2010 webtoon. 

The opposite happens when fans rally to pour online scorn. That fate met Hollywood’s 2017 take on the seminal manga Ghost In The Shell (1989 to 1991), with celebrated anime versions already existing. It also happened to Netflix’s live-action adaptations Death Note (2017) and Cowboy Bebop (2021), both sourced from anime and manga. 

While the quality of the films was judged to be poor by most viewers, the fervent online campaign waged by fans of the source materials helped put a nail in the coffin of the idea of sequels.

Kim, 45, says he did what he felt was best for his movie adaptation. 

“I know there could be some concerns from fans of the original web novel when adapting a story into a screenplay, but just because we have the screen adaptation of the novel, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to undermine or change anything about the original work,” he adds. 

In keeping with the web novel’s idea of a multiverse, he says the novel and the movie can co-exist without one being considered superior to, or a replacement for, the other. 

“The audiences will be able to enjoy this film more if they see it as another version of the original web novel, as an extension of the universe created by the author,” he says. 

In Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, Kim Dok-ja (Ahn) is an office worker who becomes the only reader of a fading web novel, Three Ways To Survive The Apocalypse. He is disappointed by the novel’s conclusion but is chastised by the author, who tells him to write his own ending.

Suddenly, he and everyone else on Earth are swept into an alternate reality in which the cataclysmic events of the novel happen, where Dok-ja meets the novel’s hero Yu Jung-hyeok (Lee). Armed with the knowledge of the future, Dok-ja must win a series of trials – including fighting deadly creatures – to escape this new reality. 

This is director Kim’s first attempt at a web novel adaptation, having made action thriller The Terror Live (2013) and military thriller Take Point (2018).

The element that drew him to his latest project was that the novel engaged readers by frequently placing them at strategic and moral crossroads – should they copy their favourite book’s story for a surefire win or pick a riskier unknown option that can save more people?

“As a reader, it got me to think about what I would do in Dok-ja’s position. The novel wasn’t a simple story about a dystopian end of the world. It felt very interactive,” he says. 

From pixels to pictures: Webtoons, web novels, anime and manga take over the big screen

Here are the upcoming films that have their roots in East Asian comics, animation or online novels. 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Infinity Castle (Aug 14)

The Japanese fantasy animated movie series is based on a manga that first appeared in 2016. It was followed by an anime series (2019 to 2024) that made the story a global hit. The story of teenager Tanjiro Kamado, who joins a corps of demon slayers after his family is slaughtered by demons, has spawned several hit movies. This film, the first of a trilogy that covers the final arc of the manga, has broken box-office records in Japan, becoming the fastest film to gross 10 billion yen (S$86.1 million yen).

My Daughter Is A Zombie (Aug 28)

Based on a South Korean webtoon, this live-action drama tells the story of a devoted dad (Jo Jung-suk) who lives in a nation recovering from the devastation caused by a zombie virus. But he hides a dark secret: His daughter (Choi Yoo-ri) is infected. With society on guard against another outbreak, he must shield her from discovery.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Sept 25)

In contrast with the other works of animation on the list, this Japanese movie is for adults only – it is gory and filled with dark, cynical humour. Based on an ongoing manga launched in 2018, Chainsaw Man is set in a world where human fears come to life in the form of devils. Lead character Denji is a teenage orphan who hunts and kills evil creatures after he transforms into the human chainsaw chimera of the title. 

The Legend Of Hei 2 (August/September)

Chinese artist MTJJ launched the story as an online flash animation in 2011. It gained cult status in China and, on the back of its success, a prequel film, The Legend Of Hei, was released in 2019. It went on to earn over $65 million worldwide, a strong number for a Chinese animation. 

The fantasy is set in a present-day China where spirits in human or animal forms exist. Humans and spirits live in an uneasy balance with one another. The protagonist Xiaohei is a black cat spirit in human form who has the power to summon matter-absorbing portals. In Hei 2, the once-idealistic and naive Xiaohei has matured and learns to lead other spirit warriors.