Watch My Chemical Romance's 'Prelude To The End' Short Film
(Warner) My Chemical Romance and visual artist Lauren Tsai have launched a collaborative short film, available to watch now. "Prelude to The End" arrives on the heels of last Friday's release of The Black Parade (20th Anniversary) on Reprise Records, a re-issue celebrating twenty years of the seminal, 4x Platinum-certified landmark album that has inspired fans and artists across generations and genres.
As one of those artists, Tsai has merged the visual world of her project The Dying World, which first debuted as a short film in 2025 Annecy Film Festival, with "The End," the first song from The Black Parade.
"Prelude to The End" is produced by Tsai's independent studio UNREAL INC. and will screen ahead of the final dates of the band's historic five nights at the Hollywood Bowl (October 30 and 31).
Upon its release in 2006, The Black Parade hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums and Top Tastemaker Albums, catapulting the New Jersey-bred group into the mainstream. The viscerally delivered concept album, in the words of Rolling Stone, "served up an era-defining rock opera, tailored for the golden age..." The Black Parade (20th Anniversary) includes the full album alongside six bonus tracks - three fan-favorite B-sides previously scattered across different releases; and three live selections captured during the original 2007 album tour at the band's hometown club - Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. The latter recordings haven't been released on LP, CD, or streaming until now, and include the never-before-released "Someone Out There Loves You." The iTunes exclusive version adds "Live from Hoboken" takes of "Mama" and "Cancer" too. My Chemical Romance will wrap the U.S. leg of their blockbuster, critically acclaimed The Black Parade 2026 Tour this weekend when they conclude an unprecedented 5-night stint at The Hollywood Bowl on Halloween night. The tour continues on to Asia next week.
"Prelude to The End" centers around Astrid, the protagonist of The Dying World, as she navigates life at an uncanny boarding school in New England that has been overtaken by trash. As the school seeks to force her into compliance by throwing out her cherished sketchbook, Astrid falls down the school's trash chute, landing in a world inhabited by forgotten ideas, and comes to encounter an idea of her own which has been plaguing her. The film explores the relationships we all hold with our creations, youth and the unwavering determination to become and express our truth, the latter of which in particular is a key, recurring theme throughout My Chemical Romance's catalog.
In addition to Tsai providing the vocals for the film's protagonist Astrid, "Prelude to The End" also features vocal contributions from Billie Eilish (who voices Astrid's friend), Phoebe Bridgers (who voices Astrid's sister), Hideo Kojima (who voices The Teacher) and John C, McGinley (who voices The Dean - an imposing authoritative figure in The Dying World's Paper Academy) and more. "Prelude to The End" features a live recording of Flying River, Violin Concerto by Pascal Dusapin, performed by Utopia Orchestra at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, conducted by Giuseppe Mengoli, with solo violin by Daniel Lozakovich.
Lauren Tsai began her artistic work as a self-taught artist and animator on YouTube at only 11 years old. She cites My Chemical Romance's world as seminal to her own artistic development more broadly, inspiring aspects of The Dying World and its characters. Lauren went on to build a career in Japan working in art and fashion before relocating to Los Angeles. Her work has expanded into animation, direction (recently directing "Cool About It" for boygenius), fine art (recently collaborating with Perrotin Gallery for Art Basel HK), acting (HBO's Rooster, LEGION on FX), fashion collaborations (Marc Jacobs, Nike), and creating immersive, large-scale installations and exhibitions around The Dying World. After introducing The Dying World with a short film at Annecy Film Festival in 2025, it was fully unveiled as part of her Hollywood Forever Cemetery installation later that year. The collaboration with My Chemical Romance not only serves as a full-circle moment for the artist, given that she used to create animated fan videos for the band's songs as a child, but in directing "Prelude to The End," it also offered Tsai the opportunity to expand the legacy of The Black Parade by deepening the narrative of The Dying World by introducing voice, new characters, and new settings in the story. Speaking about the collaboration, Tsai shares: "It was an absolute dream to work on this project for The Black Parade and The Dying World. I deeply respect MCR and Gerard's creative legacy. It has been an honor for him to find inspiration in a world that I've created, in the same way I have always admired the worlds that he has built throughout his career."
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