Following its debut in South Korea on July 23rd, the live-action adaptation of a highly respected and well-known webtoon, Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, has been met with some very critical takes from both fans of the original material and general audiences. Due to many questions surrounding the film, both the creator and the producer have come forward with exclusive interviews.

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint is a manhwa and web novel written by Sing Shong (or singNsong) exploring the world after a major apocalypse hits and turns humanity’s downfall into a streamable gameshow for gods tuning in to watch their lives crumble. The major twist in this story, however, is that it is all based on a novel

The one person who has been reading the series since Chapter 1 is Kim Dokja, a man who believes he has very few prospects and aspirations, but he’s now elevated to the best-equipped human to survive the incoming threats. Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint combines multiple genres and subverts the audience’s expectations to constantly keep them guessing while thoroughly enthralled.

“Unique And New Cinematic Experience”: Creator’s Interpretation of Omniscient Reader’s The Prophecy

SingNSong See The Live-Action Movie as a Different Perspective Being Told

In an interview with BNT News that has been translated by X user @flameofuriel, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, SingNSong spoke about their experience seeing the actors and production team at work to adapt their webnovel. They state that while certain changes were hard to realize, they had faith in the director Kim Byeongwoo for his past work.

From changes in the genre to characters, SingNSong saw the live-action adaptation as a different or alternate storyline, a notion that is present in their webnovel. They clarified that the movie is attempting to tell a story that can raise questions and answer them within a film’s time limit of two hours and has reinterpreted Omniscent Reader to achieve that.

“As is often the case for creators, we too, as the original authors, felt some regret about certain elements in the film that differed from the original work. However, whenever those thoughts come to mind, I find myself recalling the day we saw the filming set. Some stories are just difficult to evaluate regardless of their completed form, and I think this film may have left that kind of impression on me. Just like Kim Dokja, who supported Yoo Joonghyuk in ‘TWSA’, I’m supporting the film with a similar sentiment.”

In light of Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy’s major changes and a rocky debut in South Korean theatres, SingNSong has responded to the concerns brought up by fans and respectfully acknowledged the movie’s diverging path in representing their webnovel. They reiterate that they were happy that the project led to more people reading their story, “forever grateful” to their fans.

Omniscient Reader: The Producer’s Production Studio’s CEO Points Blame at the New Generation and Fans

Defending Changes Made to the Webnovel to Adapt New Meaning into the Live-Action Film

Due to the outcry and demand for a response from the studio responsible for Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy, Realize Pictures CEO Won Dongyeon stepped forward for an interview, addressing fans’ concerns and defending the studio’s changes. Having adapted webtoon and other series prior, he was surprised by the amount of criticism from audiences when similar decisions were made for ORV.

“It’s a completely different environment from the time when ‘Along With The Gods’ was released. The audience’s expectations and emotional response itself have clearly changed compared to the past. Back then, simply knowing a film is based on a webtoon was enough for people to like it, but now, it’s an era where people don’t ask, ‘How did they recreate that scene that I know?’ anymore, but instead they start with, ‘Why did they change it?’”

Amid viewers’ criticism, Won states that placing the blame on the studio and those claiming it prioritized “hype over acting” is “unjust”, since many fans and general audiences are directing the criticism towards the studio rather than SingNSong’s story. He tacks on that the author had no qualms with the changes that were made.

While also citing the relevant issues that Korean theatres are going through, Won pivots the conversation to the failure of the live-action, reflecting the entire Korean film ecosystem. “If large-scale works like ours collapse, producers and investors… might stop appearing altogether.” However, this point lamentably focuses on more of the financial issues rather than delivering a faithful story.

Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy’s Reviews and Ratings are Tanking, to No One’s Surprise

What Changes Will Do to an Adaptation When The Original Story is Abandoned

Currently, Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy has yet to hit global theatres, but the reception to the movie has placed it at a 1.2 on Google and a 3.8 on IMDb, landing poorly among fans and general audiences alike. Although the number one film at the Korean box office, the backlash and negative reviews are quickly deterring new viewers.

While Won brought up validated reasons for the critical reception due to audience expectation, it is far from a new hot topic in the rise of remakes and live-action adaptations. The latter is especially infamous for receiving critical reception due to the very decisions made for The Prophecy: the amount of changes to the original source material.

When production makes one change, they have to consider how it will affect the story later on, an important factor when Realize Pictures originally wanted to adapt the entirety of the novel into five movies. But The Prophecy made numerous changes that have all built up on one another, essentially ruining current character motivations and roles yet to be revealed.

The CEO mentions that SingNSong were not forced to approve the changes, and Jisoo did not decide to change Lee Jihye’s weapon from a sword to a gun. As a complete non-issue, seeing as how actors and actresses don’t have much say in creative decisions, creators also don’t get much leniency in film adaptations. One Piece remains a golden exception.

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In the interview, Won brings up another webtoon adaptation he was involved in that received some fairly positive reviews in light of the changes that were made to it. Along With The Gods was a 2017 film that still holds high regard among fans and general audiences; however, he revealed some insight behind the scenes with its creator.

“From the moment we began adapting the original work into a film, changes were unavoidable. If we had made it exactly the same way, we would’ve also received backlash for taking the easy way out. Even Joo Homin, the author of Along With The Gods, cried when he found out that the character Jin Gihan had been removed. But the role had simply been transferred to the Three Grim Reapers, and after watching the film, he fully understood.”

SingNSong mirrored the sentiment that changes to a story are hurtful to the creator, and removing characteristics or characters in their entirety is a blatant disregard for the work that’s being adapted. Citing another author’s lament about their work being altered does not equate success in light of the movie’s release, when nothing else can be done about the change.

Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy not realizing its goal stems from the drastic changes that were made, creating an unfamiliar foreign story that disregarded all meaning present in the original webnovel. Tailored to cater to more of a general audience, the film is a hit with no one in the end after being hollowed out from its original source material.