'Wild Sing' runs K-pop nostalgia all the way back to the '90s

These days, where every new release is fighting for a square inch of your timeline, a bit of PR gimmick on social media has more or less become standard issue for studios.

Real-life Instagram accounts for fictional characters has been an especially reliable form. At this point, it's not rare to find characters from a film or TV series out there posting on their own accounts in real time.

The upcoming comedy "Wild Sing" took it to a whole new level. They looked at all that and decided to drop an actual song.

The singer in question is Triangle, a co-ed dance trio that ruled the Korean charts before an unspecified scandal blew them up overnight.

Twenty years on, they're back for one more shot. Gang Dong-won plays dance-machine-turned-broke-dad Hyun-woo; Uhm Tae-goo is self-styled rapper Sang-gu and Park Ji-hyun plays vocalist Do-mi, the group's lone girl who married rich.

It landed even before any teaser or trailer did. Last month, distributor Lotte Entertainment put out the group's in-universe debut single, "Love Is," with a full music video on YouTube.

The self-parody is dialed up to the point of cringe -- all new jack swing grooves and loose-fit hip-hop outfit with the basketball jerseys, lit through the hazy filter of first-gen K-pop videos, basically pure throwback fuel for kids of the '90s.

Call it a goofy bit for a goofy movie, but the gimmick has paid off. As of Thursday, the video had blown past 2.3 million views on YouTube.

At Thursday's press conference at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University, Gang showed up with the same matinee-idol pull that's let him front features on looks alone for 20-plus years.

At 45, the aura is still very much intact, even with the gigantic white bow tied at his neck that left his torso looking like a tall, narrow gift box.

"I always assumed K-pop stars had it tough, but doing this, I came to genuinely respect them," Gang said. "I love comedy to begin with, but the script really got me. The way the ending is locked in tight, and the whole story barreling toward it. I thought it was so much fun."

His Hyun-woo is Triangle's b-boy, which meant the actor had to spend five months learning headspins and break sets. "Breaking is a dance that defies gravity," he said. "It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to learn."

Asked which artist he'd want to do a "Love Is" challenge with post-release, he went straight for the top: "BTS comes to mind. It would be an honor."

Uhm, last seen in the supernatural mystery "Light Shop," described Sang-gu as a guy with bottomless ambition and a remarkable shortage of skill. To get there, he logged five months of rap lessons at K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment, the record label behind Twice, Stray Kids and ITZY.

"I went whenever I could find the time," Uhm said. "On stage, I went in with the attitude that I'd rather die than not look cute."

Park ("Hidden Face," "You and Everything Else") plays the trio's hard-edged secret weapon under the sweet-girl exterior. She said she watched a lot of late-'90s girl group footage to get the vocal carriage right, and tanned for the flashback scenes to look the part.

"On TV, Domi reads as innocent and cute, but there's this unexpected, fierce side to her," Park said. She also confessed the shoot left her feeling outshined: "I'm supposed to be the center, but the two of them tore it up — winking and everything."

Then there's Oh Jung-se — currently riding high on JTBC's "We Are All Trying Here" — as Sung-gon, Triangle's ballad-crooning arch-rival.

The teaser already laid the look out there: a horrifying lacquered bowl cut paired with a straight-faced delivery of the impossibly cheesy love song "I Like You."

"When I first got this masterpiece, I laughed in disbelief," Oh said. "But the more I listened, the more it cracked me up. Really catchy, sad even."

Director Son Jae-gon isn't exactly a household name, but he's spent the better part of two decades almost exclusively in comedy — going back to writing "Fun Movie" (2002), Korean cinema's lone proper genre-spoof, and most recently directing the zoo-set caper "Secret Zoo" (2020).

"The rule was simple," the director said of the film. "It had to feel like the era, but still play well to today's audience hearing it cold in a theater."

Gang closed things out by pitching the movie's emotional throughline.

"Everyone has a moment when they were shining, and a moment when they want to," he said. "I hope people come watch it and have a good time."

"Wild Sing" hits theaters June 3.