New K-pop group P1Harmony to debut through film

P1Harmony and Director Chang (center) pose during an online press conference Tuesday. (FNC Entertainment)

SEOUL — As more and more K-pop groups create backstories and universes of their own, FNC Entertainment’s newest K-pop group, P1Harmony, is debuting in a sci-fi movie starring the six band members.

The 99-minute movie, “P1H: The Beginning of a New World,” by director Yoon Hong-seung, who also goes by “Director Chang,” shows the P1Harmony universe and how each member of P1Harmony finds his own superpower that can help save the world from a deadly virus. The movie will come to screens Oct. 8, while P1Harmony will debut later in the month.

“Idols having a universe of their own is nothing new,” said Director Chang at an online press conference Tuesday. “Through the movie, we wanted to show an evolved form of idols that uses acting to show their musical universe rather than using just dancing and singing.”

The project was not initially planned as a movie — the original plan was to show it through OTT channels or on YouTube as a shorter series. But with the final edited version being close to 100 minutes and with an offer from Lotte Cinema to screen it, a cinematic release was decided upon.

This is the first time that a universe of a K-pop group has been made into a full movie. None of the members of P1Harmony had previous acting experience, and they had to learn from scratch.

“Despite us acting for the first time, I hope many people look forward to the movie as we prepared it diligently,” said P1Harmony’s Jiung.

Three songs from the movie sung by P1Harmony members will be released before their official debut song.

If the new idol group doesn’t hold viewers’ interest, the appearances by many actors and celebrities from FNC Entertainment might.

Veteran actors Jeong Jin-yeong, Choi Yeo-jin, Jo Jae-yoon and Lee Chae-yun appear in the movie along with K-pop group AOA’s Seolhyun and CNBLUE’s Jung Yong-hwa. Actor Jung Hae-in and entertainer Yoo Jae-seok have cameo roles.

“The movie is about the six of us uniting together as one to fight the virus and regain peace. We want to send this positive message to the people suffering right now with our music and this project,” said P1Harmony’s Keeho.