Song Joong Ki: ‘Space Sweepers’ premiere delayed for the second time as COVID-19 surge in South Korea

Song Joong Ki is set to return to the big screen via “Space Sweepers,” the much-anticipated sci-fi film. However, it was recently announced that its premiere has been canceled.

Delay of movie release announced

The distributor of the movie, Merry Christmas, revealed through an official statement that Song Joong Ki’s “Space Sweepers” film had to be delayed again. The company cited the surge of new COVID-19 cases in the country as the reason for the postponement.

The announcement was posted on August 27. So far, this is the second time that its release date has been moved.

“Although ‘Space Sweepers’ was set to premiere on Sept. 23, it will now be temporarily delayed due to the situation regarding the spread of COVID-19,” Soompi quoted an official from Merry Christmas as saying in a statement. “We will announce the new release date after monitoring the current situation. We ask for everyone’s understanding and we hope that the situation will be under control soon.”

The backstory of “Space Sweepers”

It was revealed that “Space Sweepers” has been in the planning for 10 years already and the amazing thing is the fact that Song Joong Ki already knows about this as early as nine years ago. He shared during the film’s press conference that he was drawn to the movie since the day he heard about it.

"Even while we were filming ‘A Werewolf Boy’ nine years ago, I’d heard that he (Jo Sung Hee) was preparing for a space-themed sci-fi film,” the actor in another report from Soompi. “I thought the concept of space junk was new, and I was attracted to the challenge in making South Korea’s first space-themed sci-fi film."

Director Jo Sung Hee confirmed that his sci-fi movie was born 10 years ago. He got the idea for it after hearing in the news that the trash in space is increasing due to the debris left by man-made equipment like the satellites.

“Around 10 years ago, I was having a meal with a friend and talking about this and that,” he narrated during the press conference. “I’d heard that space junk, debris from space missions, was spreading at a rapid and dangerous rate and that it was a problem even now.”

“Space Sweepers” also stars Kim Tae Ri, Yoo Hae Jin and Jin Seon Kyu. Song Joong Ki serves as the pilot of the space ship called Victory and the story is set in the year 2092.