The Walt Disney Company announced a deal on Monday to bring a documentary series and concert featuring K-pop band BTS to its streaming services.
The series will make its debut next year and include music and footage of the South Korean group from the past nine years. Called BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star, it will showcase "the daily lives, thoughts and plans" of the group's members "as they prepare for their second chapter," Disney said.
Last month, BTS announced the band would be taking a break while members worked on solo projects.
Disney said the series would be released globally on its streaming services, including on Disney+. Its other streaming platforms include Hulu and Disney+ Hotstar.
The company did not say which services would carry the programme and in which markets.
The agreement with BTS's management company Hybe also allows for Disney to run a recording of a stadium concert in Los Angeles from November 2021, the group's first performance in front of fans after a two-year interruption forced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, the deal includes a reality show called In the Soop: Friendcation and featuring V from BTS, Itaewon Class TV star Park Seo-joon, Parasite actor Choi Woo-sik, singer and actor Park Hyung-sik and rapper Peakboy.
The show would follow the five friends "venturing on a surprise trip" and "enjoying a variety of leisure and fun activities," Disney said.
The company will also introduce new programming from other HYBE artists over the next few years.
Celebrating BTS Army Day
Every year on July 9, millions of BTS fans around the world celebrate Army Day, dedicated to the group's fandom. Marking the day, the name "Army" was first coined for the band's fans.
Ahead of the ninth anniversary of Army Day, the record-breaking septet announced a special fan version of their hit song Yet To Come (The Most Beautiful Moment), to be released on Wednesday.
The song is the lead single from the group's anthology album, Proof, which was released on June 10.
— Additional reporting by The National
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
