After a four-year break, Okay-pop supergroup BTS returned Saturday with a large, free comeback live performance in Seoul, the place 1000’s of police locked down a central boulevard for the Netflix-exclusive spectacle that drew tens of 1000’s of followers.

“Annyeonghaseyo! We’re back,” RM, the band’s chief, instructed the gang, utilizing the Korean phrase for “hello,” as they opened with “Body to Body,” setting off delirious screams from followers waving purple-and-red gentle sticks and thrusting smartphones into the air.

All seven members of the band — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — not too long ago accomplished South Korea’s obligatory navy service, and hope to reclaim their standing as one of many world’s greatest pop acts.

The efficiency at Gwanghwamun Square launches a worldwide tour spanning dozens of reveals throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, which analysts say may generate lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} in income per quarter.

The hourlong live performance got here after the group on Friday launched its fifth album, “ARIRANG,” which offered almost 4 million copies in its first day, stated the band’s administration firm, HYBE. The firm additionally stated RM had injured his ankle throughout a rehearsal, however he nonetheless carried out with modified choreography.

The BTS live performance, which started at 8 p.m., drew a number of tens of 1000’s to the Gwanghwamun space, together with 22,000 followers who secured free seats within the designated viewing zone and others who watched on screens close by. The present was streamed reside on Netflix.

“It will be amazing because it’s been so long that BTS (was) not with us,” Dallila Di Tullio, a 32-year-old fan from Italy, stated earlier than the live performance, calling it a once-in-a-century occasion.

BTS debuted in 2013 and has a legion of world supporters who name themselves the “Army.” It grew to become the primary Okay-pop act to high Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 2020 with their first all-English track “Dynamite.”

Jung Dukhyun, a popular culture commentator, stated that the impression of BTS’ return as a full-group can be super at a time when international fandom for Okay-pop has grown a lot stronger, as proven by the success of Netflix’s animated sensation “KPop Demon Hunters.”

The darkish streets blazed with gentle as waves of followers sang and cheered from cordoned sections, a jubilant scene that unfolded beneath an unusually heavy police presence managing the crowds.

“I still vividly remember how, at our last Busan concert a few years ago, we asked you to wait for us. Thank you so much for coming here like this,” Jin stated.

The group carried out songs from their new album, together with “SWIM,” alongside hits like “Dynamite” and “Butter.” Some members appeared to tear up whereas thanking followers who braved the chilly night time, earlier than holding arms and bowing to the gang to shut the present.

Police and metropolis officers closed close by streets and roads, halted the world’s subway and bus providers, and sealed off dozens of surrounding buildings, in what amounted to a full-day shutdown of the district.

Thousands of law enforcement officials maintained a decent perimeter across the efficiency venue, channeling the crowds with a maze of fences and buses. Concertgoers started queuing by noon to safe spots alongside close by roads, passing by means of safety checks and metallic detectors at designated entry factors. The restrictions compelled close by outlets to shut and police to make use of their buses to shuttle wedding ceremony company to a close-by venue.

“I was hoping to (see) if we can go through some holes or be around. Apparently we cannot because they will be asking people to move,” stated Bernice Sanchez, a 52-year-old fan from Switzerland, as she seemed for a spot to attend.

While South Korean officers have taken crowd security extra severely since a 2022 Halloween surge that killed almost 160 individuals, critics say the controls went too far and undermined the symbolism of performing in Gwanghwamun, seen as Seoul’s non secular coronary heart and most distinguished gathering area.

Hundreds of 1000’s have gathered in Gwanghwamun lately to mourn, protest and have a good time because the nation weathered tragedy and political upheaval. The BTS live performance got here a few yr after waves of demonstrators stuffed the world, calling for the ouster of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his temporary imposition of martial regulation in December 2024. Those monthslong rallies had been marked by a festive environment and a hanging mix of politics and popular culture, with protesters singing and waving colourful Okay-pop gentle sticks, and ended with out main security accidents.

The new BTS album, “ARIRANG,” takes its title from a centuries-old folks track, thought to be an unofficial anthem in each Koreas, whose themes of separation, longing and quiet resilience have echoed throughout generations.

Gwanghwamun and close by Gyeongbok Palace offered a sweeping historic backdrop to Saturday’s present, which was highlighted by lighting results that bathed the palace gate and partitions in purple, pink and blue.

Suga instructed the gang that the album’s title and the choice to carry out in Gwanghwamun mirrored the group’s concentrate on id. RM stated the band centered on making music that felt true to themselves as they reconvened to work on the brand new album.

“We wanted to show who we are and how we can come together,” he instructed the gang.

South Korean officers, together with present President Lee Jae Myung, expressed hope that the occasion would promote the nation’s tradition and gentle energy.

The group’s comeback follows a virtually four-year hiatus pushed by South Korea’s obligatory navy service, which requires most able-bodied males to serve 18 to 21 months beneath a conscription system aimed toward deterring aggression from North Korea. BTS members started serving in 2022, with Suga the final to finish his service in June 2025.

Some analysts say the group’s “ARIRANG” world tour may grow to be the largest Okay-pop tour ever by scale and income, with 82 reveals deliberate globally in stadiums of round 50,000 seats. Ha Jae-keun, a cultural critic, stated BTS was prone to have a “second heyday,” as they maintained a extremely highly effective fandom and would profit from the broader worldwide ascent of Okay-pop.

“We will do our greatest to present every little thing we acquired,” J-Hope stated.

Associated Press video journalists Yong Jun Chang and Yong-ho Kim contributed to this report.

© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.

“The Pitt” has received reward — and a gurney stuffed with Emmys — for bringing a dose of traditional episodic TV to the status streaming period.

Its star, govt producer and typically director Noah Wyle stated Friday that the HBO Max hospital collection can be a throwback of a distinct kind — it truly shoots in Hollywood at a time when movie and tv manufacturing has shifted to different locations with extra favorable financial circumstances. Wyle stated “The Pitt,” which received the Emmy for finest drama for final yr’s first season, is “proof of concept” that the mannequin can work.

Wyle spoke at a listening to organized by California Sen. Adam Schiff held at City Hall in Burbank, the Los Angeles-adjacent metropolis that’s dwelling to most main studios, together with the Warner Bros. lot the place “The Pitt” shoots.

“I was asked to participate in today’s hearing to tell a success story,” Wyle stated. “I’m happy to report we’ll commence shooting season three this summer, and that a rising tide has indeed lifted all boats.”

Wyle stated California’s latest tax breaks for manufacturing made making the collection in Burbank potential. He stated the present’s first season introduced practically 600 manufacturing jobs, and its ripple results introduced $125 million to the state financial system.

“That is proof of concept,” he stated. “That is replicable. And it is vital to the strength of our industry and to our city to support these incentives.”

Wyle, 54, performed a central character on NBC’s “ER” from 1994 to 2009. His return to a Hollywood hospital — fictionally in Pittsburgh — with “The Pitt” received him an Emmy for finest actor in a drama.

Lean years got here in between, when he needed to go the more and more far-off locations smaller roles took him.

“I’ll speak from personal experience and say that I haven’t slept in my own bed in 15 years while I’ve been working as an actor. Since the end of ‘ER,’” Wyle stated. “It’s hard on families, and I can speak to that. It is hard to fracture your industry that way.”

Schiff and different members of Congress who spoke stated they’re engaged on nationalizing manufacturing tax breaks that states have instituted.

U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, whose district contains Burbank and its studios, addressed objections to cozy therapy for a enterprise snuggled in wealth.

“We give tax credits to many industries. Hollywood is not asking for special treatment,” she stated. “This is something that is standard across the United States for industries that we have determined that we care about.”

Matthew Loeb, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents most behind-the-scenes crew members, lamented Marvel just lately transferring its manufacturing hub from Georgia to England.

But he stated the identical project-by-project manufacturing mannequin that may be troublesome for his members could make change extra potential. It’s not as onerous for movie to come back again because it could be for different industries.

Paramount’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. was a working theme, with all expressing fear that its consolidation will imply lack of manufacturing and jobs

“This merger could define whether Los Angeles remains the entertainment capital of the world or becomes an afterthought,” Friedman stated.

Paramount leaders have given a broad dedication to creating 15 main movement footage for each studios annually. That was welcomed, however skeptically.

“The big missing piece is that there is no commitment about where they’re going to shoot 30 films,” Loeb stated.

Wyle, Schiff and others emphasised the roles that thrive round leisure entities, from resort employees to gear distributors to meals servers to dry cleaners.

“All those livelihoods are tied to a production shop setting up in their community,” Schiff stated.

U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove stated employees of all kinds from her Los Angeles County district have an curiosity in Hollywood thriving.

“After my acupuncturist took the needles out of my back, she said, ‘Can you do anything to help bring back entertainment jobs?’” Kamlager-Dove stated.

© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.

Hayao Miyazaki is understood for being an excellent illustrator and director, and a part of what makes him so expert is his long-held fascination with how we understand pictures. At the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, for instance, there’s a complete room devoted to uncommon contraptions that bridge the hole between static and shifting artwork, together with a large zoetrope that exhibits how motion and strobe lights can flip a mannequin right into a film.

Now, the 85-year-old director is constant his exploration past the web page and display screen with a model new collection of works. Announced at a press convention at Studio Ghibli’s Studio 1 in Tokyo on 17 March, the brand new collection is claimed to be Miyazaki’s first since he completed work on the Oscar award-winning 2023 film “The Boy and the Heron,” and it’s been almost 4 years within the making, with the director beginning on it in June 2022.

Despite being the creator, the famously reclusive Miyazaki was not in attendance on the press convention, with Miyazaki’s son Goro and Studio Ghibli co-founder and producer Toshio Suzuki going through the media as an alternative. They each spoke enthusiastically in regards to the new collection of works, which the older Miyazaki has dubbed the “Panorama Box“.

▼ The Ghibli Museum shared a sneak peek on the particular containers.

Goro says that though this time period was coined by Miyazaki, it’s commonly known as an “artwork field“, and it’s been round in some form or type for the reason that sixteenth Century. True to its title, Miyazaki’s image field comprises a panorama that offers you a glimpse right into a contained world like a diorama, however in contrast to different containers, the place scenes are set out like a easy stage, Miyazaki’s creation makes intensive use of vertical compositions. This implies that while you look contained in the field, your eyes have a tendency to maneuver vertically as an alternative of horizontally as you are taking within the scene, mimicking the way in which a digital camera may pan up or down in an anime, which Goro says is very “Miyazaki-esque“.

When considered from a distance, the artwork contained in the field seems flat, however step nearer and also you’ll uncover a panorama with depth, because the background and characters are drawn individually and organized in a number of layers. In complete, Miyazaki has created 31 completely different panorama containers, all containing quite a few artworks, a lot of that are fully authentic, and characters from well-known Ghibli motion pictures like “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “The Boy and the Heron,” “My Neighbour Totoro” and “Spirited Away.”

▼ This news clip exhibits a few of Miyazaki’s new Panorama Boxes.

Goro says his father’s love for the panorama field doubtless stems from his childhood, when he used to play with toys constructed from caramel sweet containers. According to Suzuki, Miyazaki as soon as spent a very long time learning Salvador Dalí’s “The Little Theater”, an artwork field they noticed at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art in New York) after they have been there to advertise “Princess Mononoke” a few years in the past. Dalí’s artwork field consists of 11 work on glass with a lightweight supply, and was itself an tried recreation of an “optical theatre” the artist had seen in a field when he was a toddler.

Though Miyazaki’s Panorama Box is designed to loved by adults and youngsters alike, Goro says the director acquired a whole lot of pleasure from watching youngsters’s reactions to the containers after they have been proven to them forward of the press convention. Miyazaki reportedly informed him, “The Ghibli for kids is again“, earlier than shaking his hand.

Handshakes from Miyazaki look like the final word type of approval, as “Evangelion” creator Hideaki Anno acquired one himself when he visited the director in his Tokyo atelier the opposite day. When Anno shared news of his go to on-line by his manufacturing firm’s X account final week, he talked about that Miyazaki was drawing “pictures” that he likes, and after the press convention Anno revealed that the artwork for the panorama containers have been in actual fact these “pictures”.

Having seen them in individual, Anno says that the “sheer wonder” of those three-dimensional artworks is tough to convey by flat pictures so he wholeheartedly recommends seeing them in individual when the Panorama Box exhibition opens on 8 July on the Grand Warehouse at Ghibli Park in Aichi Prefecture.

▼ Ghibli Park additionally expressed pleasure for the upcoming occasion with a tweet exhibiting the soon-to-be-seen Panorama Boxes.

The Panorama Boxes have been all the time designed to be proven at Ghibli Park, with Hayao Miyazaki himself providing to make them for an exhibition. Goro says youngsters shall be excited to face on their tiptoes to look into the mesmerising worlds after they go on show, and he encourages adults to squat all the way down to a toddler’s degree when viewing the containers to get probably the most enjoyment out of them.

As for Goro’s father, he exhibits no indicators of laying down his paintbrushes, with Suzuki saying he’s extremely energetic and nonetheless needs to make motion pictures. Though Suzuki says he doesn’t have any solutions as as to if or not there’ll ever be one other Hayao Miyazaki film, he does say that when he seems on the Panorama Box, he can see that the facility of Miyazaki’s pictures hasn’t diminished – in actual fact, he’s “evolving”.

According to Suzuki, Miyazaki seems to be “trying to get ahead of Goro” at Ghibli Park, which he tasked Goro with creating. Suzuki goes as far as to say it’s his “driving force” because the older Miyazaki is “the kind of person who won’t lose to anyone and will create something interesting”.

Now that we give it some thought, these new panorama containers do an ideal job of making 3-D Ghibli worlds with out using CG, an animation fashion that Miyazaki has lengthy averted, regardless of his son’s foray into that world with “Earwig and the Witch.” So if competitors along with his son, or a want to proceed instructing him and increasing his horizons, provides us extra inventive works like this, then let that driving drive stay on.

Sources: Aichi Prefectural Government, Ghibli Park, Mainichi Shimbun, FNN, NTV

Read extra tales from SoraNews24.

— Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki remains to be drawing…and strolling in his Vans

— Hayao Miyazaki makes uncommon video look to take a look at Ghibli Museum’s revamped cafe【Video】

— “Let’s leave it to Goro” – The second Hayao Miyazaki was really satisfied about Ghibli theme park

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