How Apple TV+’s ‘Pachinko’ Delivers A “Conversation Between Generations” On-Screen, Behind The Scenes

EXCLUSIVE: After collaborating  on the film Greyhound — with  sequel in the works — and the just wrapped WWII series Masters of the Air, Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have made multi-year exclusive television overall deal with Apple TV+.

BTS.On the most recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, was released on April 6, the 41-year-old rapper discussed his thoughts about the K-pop boyband with co-hosts Ice, Ish and Parks Vallely, during which he said: “You can get mad at me… but I hate them BTS n***as.”When asked by his co-hosts to elaborate, Budden said: “Do I need a reason? … I hate them n****s. I don’t have to divulge my reason to you, I just hate them n****s.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorApple is stepping up to the plate with its first live sports broadcasts Friday, set to debut “Friday Night Baseball” on Apple TV Plus — and, for a limited time, the MLB livestreams will be free for anyone in the U.S. and eight other countries.The games on Apple TV Plus — which will be about 50 per season — are available to anyone with internet access, for free for a limited time without the need for a subscription to the streaming service (regularly $4.99/month).

SEVENTEEN are set to collaborate with Apple to kick off the tech company’s new K-pop ‘Today At Apple’ sessions.Today (April 7), The K-pop boyband appeared at the new Apple store in Myeongdong, Seoul – which is set to open this Saturday (April 9) – where the tech giant announced that the outlet would serve as a “stage for established and new Korean artists, who will lead unique Today At Apple sessions celebrating contemporary Korean culture”, per a press statement.The first session of the brand-new K-pop ‘Today At Apple’ creative initiative will kick off as a collaboration with SEVENTEEN. Called the ‘Music Lab: SEVENTEEN Remix’, the sessions will feature the members of the boyband teaching visitors to the Apple Store how to use the tech company’s music creation software GarageBand, per Korea JoongAng Daily.The first session ‘Music Lab: SEVENTEEN Remix’ will take place on April 15 at the Apple store in Myeongdong.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorPodcast series “Batman Unburied,” a thriller delving into the dark recesses of Bruce Wayne’s psyche and featuring classic Batman villains, is set to launch on Spotify worldwide this spring.The drama series will premiere May 3 exclusively on Spotify. It’s the first project under the audio platform’s multiyear deal with Warner Bros.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Beyond Rights and Insight TV Team Up for New Branded BlockBeyond Rights and top millennial-targeted digital channels provider Insight TV have struck a new alliance, which will see the launch of Beyond branded blocks on Insight TV’s science and technology-centered InWonder channel. The Beyond branded blocks will initially play on primetime weekends in North America, drawing from Beyond Rights’s extensive catalogue of science and engineering programming with such titles as “How Hacks Work” and “Wicked Inventions.” “We will work closely together over the coming months to measure the audience response, looking to build towards a range of branded FAST channels,” said David Smyth, CEO of Beyond Rights.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorDepicting an ancestral journey was key for main title designers Angus Wall and Nadia Tzuo in developing the title sequence for Apple TV Plus’ series, “Pachinko,” a show that traces the fate of a Korean family and spans multiple countries, decades and generations.At the heart of the journey is Solomon Baek, played by Jin Ha, a young employee at an international firm. He returns to his roots, reconnecting with his father Mozasu (Soji Arai), owner of a pachinko game parlor, and grandmother Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung), with a lens on the younger Sunja  (Minha Kim and Jeon Yuna), who leaves everything behind for a new life in Japan, a country that wants no part of her.Based on Min Jin Lee’s rich novel, the show, which premieres March 25 on Apple TV Plus, has been adapted by series creator Soo Hugh, who scripted the title sequence into her drafts.

Daizen Maeda says his daughter is the reason he references a Japanese anime every time he scores for Celtic.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorIn a small but notable change, digital media providers with “reader” apps in Apple’s App Store — such as Netflix and Spotify — will now be able to provide links in their iOS apps to let customers sign up for and manage accounts on the companies’ own websites.Previously, Apple prohibited app developers from including any links to account sign-up pages. For purchases made within the app itself, Apple will still require developers to use Apple’s in-app payment system — under which Apple takes a 30% cut of subscriptions in year one, with that dropping to 15% starting in the second year.

 Pachinko, had uploaded as many as 90 photographs of middle-aged and elderly Korean women to his now-deleted blog “Korean Flowers in Bloom” in 2010 and 2011. The blog subsequently began to draw attention after the series premiered last week.Many of the photographs were taken in public areas like metro stations and streets, with the faces of the women left un-pixelated. His posts were also often accompanied by overtly sexual captions, as reported by The Korea Times, and had included comments like “working with such a provocative model, I found it hard to keep myself and my concupiscence under control” and “now we have an excuse to stare directly at her right nipple”.Over the weekend on March 26, Ha apologised for his blog posts through a statement his official website.

EXCLUSIVE: Ash Avildsen’s Sumerian Records & Films, which is looking to increase its film and TV footprint, has acquired independent comic book publisher and gaming company Behemoth Entertainment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIndependent distributor Film Movement has picked up all North American rights to award-winning folk horror film “Seire.” The Korean chiller will be released theatrically in 2022, followed by launches on home entertainment and digital platforms.The film takes as its central premise the Korean superstition that nobody in the family of a baby less than three weeks old – the ‘seire’ period – should attend a wake. And that failure to take precautions risks misfortune.The story, penned by writer and first-time feature director Park Kang, sees the father of a newborn attend the funeral of an ex-girlfriend.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “The Batman” continued atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the third weekend in a row with £3.3 million ($4.4 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. The film, starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz now has a total of £32.6 million.

Pachinko affected him.Based on the novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko follows the lives of a Korean immigrant family in Japan over four generations. Lee stars in the upcoming series as Lee Han-su, a Korean fish broker who crosses paths with a young Sun-ja (Kim Min-ha), the series’ central character, setting in motion her eventual move to Japan.In a recent interview with The Korea Times, the 34-year-old actor reflected on what he had learned about Korean-Japanese history while working on the series and how it affected him.

China where it earned $12.1 million in its first weekend. But about 43% of cinemas in China are closed due to the pandemic and “The Batman” still did slightly better than “Unchartered” which also opened there this weekend to $10.3 million.“The Batman” cost an estimated $200 million to make, not counting the many millions spent on marketing.

Pachinko director Kogonada has opened up about his experience working with Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung on the upcoming Apple TV+ series.In a recent interview withThe Korea Herald, Kogonada spoke about his time working with Youn and gushed about her performance as the show’s main character Sunja. “Her face to me was like a map of human history and Korean history, and the notes that she can play on her face are really remarkable to me,” he said.He added that he felt so compelled by Youn’s acting that he was always eager to film the next scene with her while on set.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Squid Game” star Hoyeon has been cast in Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming Apple series “Disclaimer.”Hoyeon will star in the series alongside previously announced cast members Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.Based on the novel of the same name by Renee Knight, “Disclaimer” will star Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a successful and respected television documentary journalist whose work has been built on revealing the concealed transgressions of long-respected institutions. When an intriguing novel written by a widower (Kline) appears on her bedside table, she is horrified to realize she is a key character in a story that she had hoped was long buried in the past.

Girls’ Generation member Seohyun and Through The Darkness actor Kim Nam-gil will join the cast of Netflix’s upcoming original series Song of the Bandits.On March 14, Netflix Korea confirmed that Seohyun and Kim will join the cast of its upcoming original period drama. Song of the Bandits is also set to star veteran actor Yoo Jae-myung (Hometown), Lee Hyun-wook (Mine), and rising actress Lee Ho-jung (Nevertheless).The historical drama will be set in the 1920s, a period during which Korea was under Japanese colonial rule.