Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who is serving as president of Busan International Film Festival’s competition jury, offered some details of his upcoming adaptation of sci-fi epic The Three-Body Problem at the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night.

First announced at Shanghai film festival in 2024, there hasn’t been much news about the project recently, but Zhang explained that it’s moving steadily ahead: “The Three-Body Problem is a great work of science fiction, but it’s hard to photograph, so we spent several years polishing the script,” he said on stage at Busan Cinema Center.

He added that his team has collected around 400,000 online comments from fans of the novel about their hopes for the film: “In this era of AI, with its democratization of images, audience expectation is extremely high so we hope to live up their expectations and make a good movie.”

One of China’s most acclaimed works of science fiction, Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy that begins with a scientist who discovers that an alien civilization is planning to take over Earth as their own planet is too unstable.

It has already been adapted by Netflix as an English-language series and has had two Chinese-language adaptations – a live-action series produced by Tencent and an animated series from Bilibili. The property has had a colourful history with one Chinese-language feature adaptation left unfinished and an executive involved in handling the rights murdered by a colleague in 2020.

Zhang’s version is being produced by Beijing Enlight Media, the studio behind blockbuster animation Nezha 2, and is understood to involve a significant AI component. One of China’s most acclaimed directors, with a career stretching back to the Fifth Generation, Zhang continues to make hit films in China today, most recently with spy thriller Scare Out over Lunar New Year.

The following day, Zhang gave a typically diplomatic answer at the jury press conference when asked about the controversy that has erupted in Korea over Hur Jin-ho’s political thriller The Assassin(s).

The film, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, revolves around the attempted assassination of South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1974, which resulted in the death of the First Lady. Right-wing groups have attacked the film for lack of historical accuracy, with the issue even being debated in Korea’s National Assembly, forcing the film to cancel its planned promotional activities at BIFF due to security risks.

When asked about the relationship between historical accuracy and freedom of speech, Zhang replied: “Creation is creation and sometimes what we create is not historical fact. We may ask ourselves, should this be based on our lives? But often we need to go beyond our lives to make a good film.”

He continued: “I haven’t seen the film in question, but we have to respect the creators – history is distant from us, but we can use it to tell stories to audiences living in current times, so in some ways it’s a form of art. What the audience feels or thinks after watching the film is up to them – everyone has different opinions – and this is the charm or beauty of the film.”

Korean filmmaker and jury member July Jung (Dora) added: “I feel discouraged by this situation as a filmmaker. Due to the way this film depicts certain people, it means that some people could be damaged or hurt by his film. On the other hand, as filmmakers we need to accept that some people will criticize our work and take full responsibility for the worlds we create.”

The BIFF jury also debated the impact of the festival’s competition section, now in its second year, which this year has a selection of 13 films, with the jury handing out six prizes. Under new Academy rules, the winner of the festival’s Best Film Award will automatically qualify for submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars.

Chinese director Bi Gan (Resurrection) said: “Busan was already a strong festival without the competition, but it’s now a core component of the festival for filmmakers in China, Japan and Korea because it creates a new trend. It’s not just about selecting prize winners, but it gives people more reason to discuss the selected films. It’s a good way to open the discourse between people.”

Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc (Skin Of Youth) said: “Busan has always been a crucial place to discover new talent and New Currents [previously the main competition section at BIFF] did a great job in recognizing emerging directors who needed a platform for us to discover their voices. But Asian cinema is growing fast in terms of quality and the number of great films coming from the region. So the festival’s new competition section matches that growth and demand.”

BIFF’s seven-person jury also includes Korean actress Moon Choi, who produced and acted in Bedford Park, which is screening at the festival this year; Japanese director Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View Of Hills); and Kazakh actress Samal Yeslyamova (Ayka). The jury will be handing out their awards at the closing ceremony on October 15.

SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils the Season 4 finale of Ted Lasso, titled “Being Alive.”

Another finale episode of Ted Lasso has hit the net, bringing its fourth season, which branched out into the women’s team storyline, to a close.

The episode kicks off with a funeral reception for AFC Richmond’s own Mae Green (Annette Badland), owner of the Crown & Anchor pub, at the very pub she helmed for years. The trio of lads who have been around since Season 1 of the soccer comedy, as well as the new trivia opponents who briefly provoked the Lady Greyhounds enough to get them landed in jail, are all at the pub, which is closed for a private event, to mourn Mae.

Ted (Jason Sudeikis), Michelle (Andrea Anders), Henry (Grant Feely) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) are in attendance as well. Michelle questions Beard about his physical transformation, which has become noticeable throughout the season, from his husky-like blue eye contacts to his tan and gray hair, which brings up Mae’s favorite sheep, Doug, who had an ear tag like Beard’s dangly earrings.

The Lady Greyhounds are there as well, and Niamh Harrigan (Aisling Sharkey) challenges her teammates to split the G, which an older gentleman points out is a tradition that actually started in Britain, not Ireland. He then proceeds to chug just the right amount of Guinness to achieve the feat with the specific beer.

Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) and Higgins (Jeremy Swift) toast to Mae before Higgins gets a call from HR. Keeley (Juno Temple), who we found out was pregnant in Episode 9, runs to her bathroom in a black dress to presumably hurl. Roy looks after her in his all-black suit. He, too, gets a call, but he declines to answer. It’s his ‘Prick Agent’ Patrick calling, which could mean something about his contract at Richmond ending or continuing.

Roy voices his concern that, because Keeley is pregnant and they are bringing new life into the world, Mae’s soul had to leave it. This tradition of sharing uncomfortable truths at a funeral stems from Season 2, in which Rebecca’s father died. Weirdness struck at that funeral as well. Keeley points out that things keep changing, like her body, and more.

Patrick, Roy’s agent, calls once more, and Roy finally picks up to learn that he’s been offered the head coaching job at Chelsea. He then takes his turn running to the bathroom to puke in the toilet.

Ted and Michelle check on Henry, who had grown close to Mae this season, and he wonders what will happen to the pub. As is the theme of the episode, Ted reaffirms that “big changes happen in bunches.” Henry then goes to play darts after sarcastically answering, “I know, I live in London now.”

Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) framed the team selfie with Mae on the bus. Beard’s ex Jane (Phoebe Walsh) shows up to the private event that has closed the Crown & Anchor in a red dress and hat, calling Mae Meg. One of her rings gets caught on Beard’s earring, and she rips it out of his ear.

The Harrigan twins serenade the late Mae with “The Parting Glass,” even though Mae was not Irish. Higgins had something to tell Rebecca before that duet.

Henry leaves the pub, and Ted goes to check on him. “I just wish that she could help me with my homework again,” Henry says through tears. Henry then asks Ted how his dad died. Nana (Becky Ann Baker) told Henry that his grandfather fell and hit his head on some stairs, which Ted says is true.

Longtime viewers of the show know that that’s not what happened — Ted’s dad committed suicide. He and Beard unpack this later at the office. Here it might be noteworthy to mention that a new voice sang the show’s title theme for the season finale, written by Tom Howe and Mumford & Sons. Could the below be related?

As David Ellison brings together Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery under the Skydance umbrella, series such as Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, Harry Potter and Taylor Sheridan’s Landman have been in the spotlight.

But another swathe of content is driving many of the channels that bring in billions of dollars across the two companies.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and South Park, MTV’s Ridiculousness, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and BET’s Sistas will now be placed under the same corporate umbrella as shows such as Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch, TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé, HGTV’s The Flip Off, TBS’s Impractical Jokers and Investigation Discovery’s slate of true-crime titles like Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence.

The problem is that while cable is still a high-margin business that throws off a lot of cash, it is declining.

To paraphrase a former U.S. President, it’s about the content, stupid.

At Skydance’s first press briefing following the closing of the deal, Skydance Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz was asked about its cable TV business. “There are many brands within our umbrella, and, ultimately, we’re looking to achieve economic scale, and be productive. We run a business that makes great content that can compete in the marketplace, and ultimately, it’s about investing in content,” he said.

The former Endemol and Mattel chief believes that what makes Skydance stand apart is its IP.

“The investment thesis is about increasing output and establishing the company as a leading content engine. When you do that, you can then drive growth in your [direct-to-consumer] business. You can continue to optimize linear channels around the world, which is a large business,” he added.

Establishing the content engine from the cable side will be a job for George Cheeks, Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance TV, and his new report Channing Dungey, who was Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros Television Group and US Networks, but will now also oversee the Paramount cable networks such as MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET as well as VH1, Paramount Network, TV Land, CMT, Pop TV and Logo TV.

There are obvious priorities: MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET on the Paramount side and channels such as Discovery Channel, TLC, HGTV and Food Network on the WBD side, which also includes, Adult Swim, Cooking Channel, TNT and TruTV.

Some of the brands are already focused on becoming a content engine for a digital world.

Jason Sarlanis, President, TBS, TNT, truTV, ID & HLN, Linear & Streaming at Warner Bros. Discovery, told Deadline earlier this spring that Investigation Discovery has become more than just a cable network.

“We really have transformed that network into being a content engine for streaming, and so getting those massive documentary ‘docbuster’ events to break through, both on the streaming platform, but using the network as a barker to bring that voracious audience to this new platform has been our strategy.”

Paramount has already turned some of its linear franchises into digital properties such as Drunk History, which ran for six seasons on Comedy Central through 2019, which has returned as a series of digital shorts on YouTube.

Nickelodeon has also greenlit a number of YouTube originals such as Kid Cowboy and Star Trek Scouts. The idea is that these serve as an incubator for ideas that can then be turned into franchises for its streaming services, which can then be fed back into the linear landscape.

MTV seems ripe for this level of experimentation. When Quibi launched in 2020 it ordered a number of reboots of classic MTV series such as Punk’d and Singled Out, so it’s not a stretch to see those types of shows, or other iconic franchises such as TRL and Yo MTV Raps!, go digital. In success, they could be turned into streaming shows that have a second window on the cable networks.

It’s not too dissimilar from the MTV Video Music Awards airing on CBS; the show, which featured awards given to the likes of Taylor Swift and Nirvana, hit an 11-year high with 8.43M viewers across CBS and MTV, but only just over 800,000 of those viewers watched on the cable network.

Cheeks and Dungey will now be working out what that looks likes for WBD franchises.

There is plenty of programming to plunder from Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters, which ran for 17 seasons before ending in 2016, to Ina Garten’s long-running Food Network’s hit Barefoot Contessa, Duff Goldman’s Ace of Cakes, Adam Richman’s Man V. Food and, TLC’s A Baby Story.

After Skydance acquired Paramount, Cheeks, who was then Paramount’s Chair of TV Media division, admitted cable was a “super challenging business”. “But, the cable group, the content group, has created these incredibly iconic franchises, and we’re all seeing the pay cable business shifting over to streaming. So, there’ll be a lot of conversations about what iconic franchises we want to continue, shift maybe to streaming,” he said in August 2025.

It is a similar message spread by former WBD cable chief Kathleen Finch, who retired at the end of 2024, handing the reins to Dungey. She warned that cable executives should “stop using the word cable” in the future and focus on content creation. “That’s going away at some point, so what we all are is creatives. You make content, then you put it on these different places and the audience chooses to watch it whichever place they happen to prefer,” she said before leaving.

Where this leaves the combined company’s cable executives is now one of the big questions; Paramount unveiled its leadership team to run its cable networks in November with Laurel Weir overseeing programming for MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Howard Lee has been Chief Creative Officer of U.S. Networks since the end of 2024 as well as continuing to oversee TLC and Discovery Channel, while Sarlanis has been running ID since June 2021 and TNT, TBS, TruTV and HLN since December 2022. Magnolia is run by Allison Page and Betsy Ayala is Head of Content, Food.

The cable networks also played a major role in the delay of the deal; California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other AGs filed a lawsuit arguing that the merger would create too much concentration among these channels when it comes to negotiating carriage deals.

In fact, the settlement that Bonta and others struck with Skydance meant that the merged company must conduct negotiations for Paramount basic cable channels independently from negotiations for Warner Bros. basic cable channels to “preserve the existing competitive dynamic between the companies”, which the AG would “help to keep prices down for consumers”.

If they break this rule, or in fact, break other rules such as the number of theatrical movies it releases per year, it is these cable assets, notably, BET, VH1, Comedy Central, Smithsonian, Destination America, and the Science Channel, that will be in the crosshairs with Skydance forced to sell them.