Why do people talk about the upcoming “After Love” or “Blood” or whatever as PSH’s comeback?
As far as we are concerned, PSH has already made his comeback — with “Scent”.
He is an actor and he has made a movie – his first in nearly two years. If that is not “comeback”, what is it?
To call “Blood” or “After Love” or whatever PSH’s comeback is negating “Scent” which is totally unfair and unwarranted.
“Scent” may not be the greatest movie ever made, but it is definitely among our TOP TEN Chinese movies – simply because PSH is in it.
The Koreans choose to ignore that? They think they can ignore the land of 1.3 billion? That would be acting like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand.
There’s no denying the fact that PSH is a Korean actor, but he has transcended Korea. It is not an exaggeration to say he is more popular in many other countries than in Korea, most notably China and Japan – simply in terms of numbers. We do not have any statistics to support this, but we don’t think we can be faulted for saying there are more PSH fans in China and Japan (separately, not combined) than in Korea.
“Scent” has made movie history in that:
1. it was shown simultaneously in 3,800 cinemas all across China. (How many cinemas are there in the whole of Korea? – with a population of 50 million.)
2. it was the first Chinese-financed movie in which the Korean actor is the male lead (unlike those Korean actors in previous Chinese movies who just played a role in an ensemble.)
3. it was the first Chinese movie in which the Korean actor played a Korean and spoke mostly Korean (also some English and Chinese.)
4. the OST sung by PSH shot to No.3 (Chinese version) and No.4 (Korean version) on its initial release, besting TVXQ (No.5 and No.10) and JYJ (No.8)
aaaa
Come to think of it, “comeback” is a dubious term. Why does PSH need to “comeback” when he has never been away? It is true that he stopped all activities when he was embroiled in that incident in the spring of 2013. But as soon as the case was resolved, PSH went to the U.S.A. to shoot pictures for ENISHI. Then it was announced there would be an ENISHI Season 2. He stayed in the U.S.A. for nearly 3 months, working and resting.
On June 1, COM opened in Japan (and went on to screen till end of November). Then on June 17, PSH’s new Japan Official Fan Club was launched. On October 5, PSH returned to Korea (his first public appearance.) On November 21, CDDA premiered on KNTV, Japan. This was followed by the Tokyo Exhibition on November 22, 23, 24. And on November 30, ENISHI Season 2 was released. The Osaka Exhibition heralded in the new year 2014 on January 11-13. PSH might have been forced to “practice restraint” in Korea, but his activities in Japan never ceased.
Next he made his foray into China. On December 29, PSH went to China to shoot his Chinese movie “Scent” which preoccupied him in Shanghai for the next month. He returned to Korea at the end of January 2014 to continue shooting in Busan, where his Japanese fans visited him on set on February 7. Hoo Factory announced in a tweet on February 27 that PSH was on the cover of 11 Japanese magazines, mainly to promote the CDDA DVD that was released in May and June (in 2 parts).
Next it was the Xinjiang Auto Show in China on March 15. “Scent” activities continued with the press conference and end-of-shooting ceremony in Beijing on March 26 and attendance at BIFF (Beijing International Film Festival) on April 15. In between appearances for “Scent”, PSH hosted Japanese (and other) fans at his birthday bash at Buyeo on April 6. He went to China again on June 19 for “Scent” post-production work, including interviews with several Chinese magazines. The “Scent” OST was released on the Baidu chart on August 5. PSH embarked on the 6-cities road show for “Scent” from August 13 to 17.
PSH was announced as the spokesman for I-CODI on September 4. This was PSH’s first CF in a while. Hey! What happened to the chocolates? News reports were released in mid-June.
The Japan Fan Meeting (2 shows) was held in Yokohama on September 28. In the video shown at the JFM, PSH could be seen rehearsing his dance moves. He must have practiced singing too, because he sang a few new songs. His Nagoya fan meeting is coming up on November 5. As for his China Fan Meetings on October 10 and 12, well, they died an unnatural death (through no fault of PSH’s).
And now there are all these news and rumors about PSH’s likely new projects — a movie “After Love”, a drama “Blood”, anything else? The Korean media called this “PSH’s comeback”, but as we have shown in above, PSH has never stopped working, maybe not in Korea, but in other parts of the world. He just changed his playing field from Korea to China, Japan, and the U.S.A. If he has never been out of our sight, there is no such thing as a “comeback”. The Koreans may deny he even existed, but if there had been no news of PSH, how do you think we managed to keep our blog running?
So, if PSH ever made another Korean movie or drama, it is just another feather in his cap. It is not a “comeback” because he never left, as simple as that.
(Credits: Photos from “Scent”. Thanks!)