Zhang Yimou Still Polishing 'Three-Body Problem' Script — SkimNews
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- Zhang Yimou revealed at the Busan International Film Festival opening ceremony that the script for his 'Three-Body Problem' film adaptation remains unfinished after several years of polishing.
- The Chinese director, serving as jury president at Busan, called Liu Cixin's novel 'a great science fiction novel' but said it is 'very difficult to adapt into a film,' adding that the team hopes to satisfy audience expectations.
- When Zhang's involvement was announced, his company collected roughly 400,000 online audience comments in one week, reflecting what festival director Jung Hanseok described as worry alongside anticipation.
- Zhang attributed heightened audience pressure to 'the age of AI,' saying 'visual media has become democratized' and that audience discernment has 'risen considerably compared to the past.'
- The novel won the Hugo Award for best novel in 2015 in Ken Liu's English translation, and has already been adapted as Bilibili's animated series (2022), Tencent's live-action 'Three-Body' (2023), and Netflix's '3 Body Problem' (2024).
- Zhang leads a seven-member jury at the 31st Busan International Film Festival, which runs through Oct. 15.
Why it matters: With three on-screen adaptations already released (Bilibili, Tencent, Netflix) and a global fanbase tracking every development, Zhang's film faces unusually high audience scrutiny — quantified by the 400,000 online comments his team collected in a single week. His acknowledgment that AI-era viewers are more discerning than past audiences raises the bar for what would otherwise be a prestige tentpole, and continued script delays risk eroding goodwill that has already been years in the building.
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