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The 39th edition Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open on Oct. 26 with a gala screening of Zeze Takahisa’s music drama Sukiyaki. Festival organizers also revealed that Yeon Sang-ho‘s zombie action horror film Colony will close this year’s event on Nov. 4.

Based on true events, Sukiyaki tells the story behind the famed Japanese pop song “Sukiyaki,” sung by crooner Kyu Sakamoto. The song topped the charts in a forward-looking post-war Japan but remarkably became a global phenomenon, holding the No.1 spot on U.S. Billboard charts for three consecutive weeks in 1963. The film, which is a sure-fire bet to be a hit when it opens in Japanese theaters on Dec. 25, depicts the history-making collaboration between the song’s composer Nakamura Hachidai (Okada Junichi), lyricist Ei Rokusuke (Matsuzaka Tori), and Sakamoto (Nakano Taiga).

“Sukiyaki tells the dramatic stories of three artists who inspired people in postwar Japan, interwoven with a collection of musical masterpieces. We are delighted to open the festival with this moving film, which stars three of today’s most prominent Japanese actors,” said Ichiyama Shozo, TIFF’s programming director.

TIFF’s closing film this year will be the wonderfully inventive Korean zombie film Colony, that that wowed genre fans when it premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film tells the story of a biological weapon being unleashed inside a Seoul skyscraper that turns the people trapped inside the building into a deadly zombie hive mind. Colony was a huge hit when it was released in South Korean cinemas and won plaudits from critics. The movie comes from Yeon, the director behind Korean classics such as Train to Busan, Seoul Station and Peninsula. The prolific filmmaker also created the hit Netflix shows Hellbound and Parasyte: The Grey.

“Colony delivered the greatest excitement and emotional impact among the films at this year’s
Cannes,” said Ichiyama. “While an overwhelming number of zombie films have been produced, this film makes us realize that the genre still possesses untapped potential.”

Additionally, TIFF has also announced that it will screen Takashi Yamazaki‘s Godzilla Minus Zero as a special Centerpiece screening at the festival. The hotly anticipated film, a followup to the Oscar-winning global box office smash Godzilla Minus One, has the distinction of being the first Japanese production to be filmed for Imax. The logline for the film reads, “War reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it even further, into minus territory. Two yearshave passed since then, and the country has faced agonizing struggles to achieve recovery andfinally return to normalcy. But just as humanity is clinging to a hard-won peace, a new threatstrikes, crushing hope in an instant.”

Said Ichiyama, “Godzilla Minus Zero is a true sequel to Godzilla Minus One, one of the standouts in the Godzilla series, and it brings a powerful new interpretation of Godzilla, delivering a level of surprise that far exceeds expectations. It is a masterpiece that was truly meant to be made in these challenging times.”

TIFF 2026 runs from Oct. 26 through to Nov. 4.

CBS Sports commentator and former NFL quarterback Tony Romo entered a no contest plea Tuesday in a drunk driving case in his home state of Wisconsin. Romo also said he will seek medical help for what he called an “over-reliance” on alcohol.

Romo’s plea comes after he was arrested in July on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He was also cited for having an open bottle of alcohol in the SUV he was driving, unsafe passing on the right and refusing to take a test for intoxication after he was arrested.

First offenses for OWI in Wisconsin are considered a civil offense. Romo will have his driver’s license for six months, have ignition interlock devices installed on any vehicles he owns and wll have to complete an alcohol assessment program and pay a fine.

In a statement posted to his social media accounts, Romo said that he “faced a recent personal failure” with his no contest plea and said he turned to drinking to manage chronic pain resulting from his NFL career.

“Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain,” the former Dallas Cowboys QB wrote. “That pain led to a dependence on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an over-reliance on alcohol.

“As I have taught my three young sons: When you fall short, you stand up and take full responsibility. That is an important first step. The harder and more important step is examining the path that brought you here and making the changes necessary to move forward. That path requires honesty.

“None of this is an excuse. These are my failures, and I take responsibility for them.”

CBS Sports placed Romo on leave following his arrest. Romo’s statement says that “in time” he hopes to return to the NFL booth, but in the immediate future, “I am working closely with a team of doctors to address my health and make the necessary changes.”

While Romo is on leave, JJ Watt will serve as the lead NFL analyst for CBS, joining play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.

The California state legislature has passed a bill intended to mitigate the impact of business tax credit caps on the state’s $750 million annual film and television incentives program.

Legislators voted to pass SB 186, carried by state Senator Ben Allen, on Monday night. The legislation is now in the court of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will decide to sign the bill into law or veto it by the end of September.

The bill, introduced at the last minute on Friday from Allen, with a companion bill from Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur introduced in the Assembly, addresses the fallout from a state budget bill, called SB 122, that alarmed Hollywood production advocates when it was signed into law earlier in the summer.

SB 186 exempts indie productions from annual caps on the use of business tax credits that are rendered permanent as a result of the 2026 state budget legislation. The legislation also sweetens conditions for productions that choose to monetize a portion of their tax credits instead of putting the full value towards their tax liability. The bill allows production to monetize 95 percent of their credits, where previously they could monetize 90 percent.

Under the auspices of the bill productions can also collect their money within two years, rather than five years.

In a statement, one of the champions of the bill — the Entertainment Union Coalition — celebrated its passage. “On behalf of our 167,000 members across California, the Entertainment Union Coalition (EUC) thanks Governor Newsom and Legislators for ensuring that the recently enacted SB 122 would not undermine the competitiveness of the California Film and Television Jobs Program passed just last year,” EUC president Rebecca Rhine said in a statement.

Rhine added, “We appreciate that Assemblymember Rick Zbur and Senator Ben Allen saw the risk and worked diligently on a very short timeline to achieve passage in the final hours of this Legislative session, and we appreciate the Governor’s commitment to our industry and this bill.”

In 2025, after a major lobbying push, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law an expansion of the state’s film and television tax credit from $330 million per year to $750 million a year. Advocates warned that the 2026 state budget bill’s caps on annual usage of business tax credits jeopardized that accomplishment and that the sudden policy change might scare productions away from the state.

While the industry initially sought to exempt Hollywood entirely from the state budget bill, advocates ultimately had to settle for a legislative Band-Aid. According to the Entertainment Union Coalition, 450,000 union members wrote letters to legislators as part of the effort to raise awareness of SB 122’s impact on Hollywood.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Motion Picture Association chairman and CEO Charlie Rivkin lauded the legislature for having “taken steps to help the Golden State remain an attractive and competitive destination for production.”

Rivkin added, “This new resolution to SB122’s previously unintended restrictions to the CA Film & TV Jobs program will maintain the program’s competitiveness so creators continue to make movies and shows in California – and keep bringing brilliant stories to life.”