Step Up

Short Answer: Boy bands... in LA and Seoul

Would you believe there are already six installments of this series, going back to 2006? In 2026, they have the opportunity to celebrate 20 years of Step Up movies. 

One hallmark of the series is having the action being set-- after the first two were in Maryland-- in different cities thereafter: NYC, Miami, Vegas... and then Beijing.

I am writing this from Chicago, and there is definitely a thriving dance scene here. But we have to sell tickets to this movie, so the next logical American city to set a story in would be L.A. It's nicer outdoors there for a greater part of the year, and street dancing largely happens on streets... outdoors.

But there is another venue for this style of street dance that the series has inexplicably left unexplored-- the world of boy bands. 

Let me be clear about what a "boy band" is, in. my view. It is not simply an all-male musical group. It is a group of usually young, clean-cut, fresh-faced singer-dancers who dress in a coordinated if not matching way, harmonize with no clear lead vocalist, focus on puppy love as a song topic, and dance in sync.*

So the movie ping-pongs between two timelines. A former member of a 1990s boy band, LA-ZER, is brought in by a South Korean record company as the dance coordinator to help create a new K-Pop boy band clearly patterned after BTS. 

In coaching these teens, he flashes back to LA-ZER, his own scrappy boy band rising, in 1990s LA, alongside acts clearly patterned after Backstreet Boys and 'NSYNC. They had one hit, "Here We Go Again," but then flamed out.

He tries to guide his new act so as to avoid the pitfalls that ultimately derailed his own band, but he sees everyone-- his dancers, the studio and label bosses-- repeating the same behavior patterns and assumptions. He struggles to get them to not make the same mistakes 

The band founders, so the bosses bring in another of his old LA-ZER bandmates, who starts to impose his will on the proceedings. This leads to conflict:
"I was already here, I was handling things!"
"Really? Then why did they fly me in from LA, if you were 'handling things' so well?!"
"They need more discipline, more practice!"
"That's what you always said-- but there was no room for self-expression!"
"This is not that kind of music, though! Harmonies require thinking of each other, listening!" 

In a climactic scene, the two are arguing in the studio. But they don't know the mics are on, and their angry words are being heard by the young Korean bandmates. 

Just as they are about to come to blows, the studio door opens and the Korean boys file shyly in. They point to the open mic and one says, "Yes, we heard you fighting. And now we realize that as you have tried to tell us, we have been behaving the same way, and are hurting our own changes for success. We should have listened."

"Yes," says another young Korean singer-dancer. "We should have been listening to you, and to each other. It's not about ego. Our best change at a hit is if we support each other, harmonize with-- and not sing over-- each other." 

"We would like to try it again-- your way. Together." Of course, they sing and dance flawlessly together, and the scene dissolves into a montage... from them singing in the studio to them singing onstage-- on TV, in videos on people's phones, and them on an awards show... where they win the Korean equivalent of Grammy for Song of the Year. 

The two LA-ZER guys also get an award, for producing the song. While they are onstage, they sing a snatch of "Here We Go Again" and do a couple of their signature dance steps. The crowd goes crazy.

The last scene shows the two LA-ZER guys and their other bandmates have opened up a school in LA to teach teens how to sing and dance in order to increase their chances of being in a successful boy band. They notice that a five of the students have made friends and are starting to naturally develop their own steps and harmonies together. Our hero looks at his friend and says, "Here we go again."

Appearances by members of actual boy bands and K-Pop bands would be nice, too.

*Yes, some consider the Beatles and Monkees to be boy bands. While they have some similar attributes-- matching outfits and puppy-love songs, with some harmonies-- these acts played instruments and did not dance. The Jackson 5 were much closer to a boy band, although some played guitars as they danced. Boy bands also pulled heavily from Motown acts like The Temptations, 4 Tops, and Pips, with their matching outfits, dance steps, and harmonies.
It really wasn't until Menudo that all these necessary elements from earlier bands were coalesced into the same act and could be called a "boy band" as such.