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Busan Film Festival opens; Zhang Yimou says Three-Body Problem script still being polished

At the opening ceremony of the 31st Busan International Film Festival on 6 October, jury president Zhang Yimou said his Chinese adaptation of The Three-Body Problem is still being scripted after several years. Michelle Yeoh and Ann Hui were honoured.

3 outlets · 2L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: The Hollywood Reporter
Image: Deadline
Image: Variety

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The story, neutrally told

Left · 2Zhang Yimou said at the opening ceremony of the Busan International Film Festival on Tuesday 6 October that he and his team have spent several years polishing the script for his film adaptation of Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem. Left · 2Zhang called the book a great work of science fiction but hard to adapt, said the script is still being polished, and said he hopes the film will not disappoint audience expectations. Left · 2He said his company collected about 400,000 online fan comments about the project, which Variety says came back in one week, and that he would study what audiences want.

Left · 1Festival director Jung Hanseok, who questioned Zhang on stage, said the announcement had stirred as much worry as anticipation; Zhang said that in the age of AI audiences' discernment has risen and the team feels tremendous pressure. Left · 1Zhang's plan to direct the film was first announced at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2024, and the project is separate from Netflix's English-language series 3 Body Problem. Left · 1Liu Cixin's novel won the 2015 Hugo Award for best novel in Ken Liu's translation and has been adapted as a Bilibili animated series (2022), a Tencent live-action series (2023) and Netflix's 3 Body Problem (2024).

Left · 1Zhang is president of the seven-member jury for Busan's main competition, alongside Bi Gan, Moon Choi, Kei Ishikawa, July Jung, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Samal Yeslyamova; it will judge 13 contenders in only the competition's second edition. Left · 1Michelle Yeoh received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award, returning to Busan for the first time in 15 years, and Hong Kong director Ann Hui received the Camellia Award. Left · 1The red carpet included Alfonso Cuarón, Hyun Bin, Hirokazu Koreeda, Fan Bingbing and the cast of Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love, and the ceremony was followed by the world premiere of Kim Jong-kwan's The Table: Day and Night.

Left · 2The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs through 15 October, with the Asian Contents & Film Market on 10-13 October.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets treat Zhang's remarks as the news. The Hollywood Reporter frames them within a glamorous opening-night report; Variety focuses on the script difficulties and audience pressure.
Emphasis
THR: red carpet, honours for Yeoh and Hui, the jury. Variety: Zhang's Q&A with Jung Hanseok, AI-era audience expectations, the novel's adaptation history.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither gives a release date, cast or production details for the film. Variety leaves out the awards and red-carpet detail.
Charged language
“Star-Packed”“glitzy”
For example
“Zhang Yimou gave a surprise update on his long-gestating film adaptation” — The Hollywood Reporter
“it is very difficult to adapt into a film” — Variety

Centre1 outlet

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

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