Alita: Battle Angel after Avatar 2

James Cameron’s production partner Jon Landau told MTV’s Splash Page that the filmmaker plans to make a film based on the Battle Angel Alita anime and manga after he finishes an Avatar sequel. Cameron has been talking about making the film again recently, but exactly when had been in question.

Landau said that the new script by Laeta Kalogridis had incorporated all of the manga volumes rather than just the anime and a single volume, which had been the basis of Cameron’s past interest, and that had opened up a more rich world for a film. Landau also revealed that the property had originally been introduced to Cameron by Guillermo del Toro.

Landau said that the film would have to be named Alita: Battle Angel in order to keep Cameron’s string of films whose titles begin with “T” or “A” (Avatar, Titanic, Terminator, Aliens, etc.) intact.

Funimation Acquires 'Trigun'

Funimation Entertainment has acquired home entertainment, theatrical, broadcast, digital and merchandise rights to the 26-episode Trigun anime series previously released in North America by Geneon. The space cowboy saga was a hit on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim and was actually more successful in the U.S. than it was in Japan. The anime series was based on 3-volume Trigun manga by Yasuhiro Nightow, which is published here by Dark Horse along with the 14-volume Trigun Maximum manga sequel.

A dozen years after the property first appeared on Japanese TV in 1998, it is set to regain some major visibility. Madhouse, which produced the original Trigun anime, is releasing an anime feature film, Trigun: Badlands Rumble (directed by Satoshi Nishimura) in Japan on April 24th.

Funimation did not announce the acquisition of the Trigun movie, but did indicate that it plans to release the original 26-episode Trigun series on DVD in the fall of 2010. Even if Funimation does not acquire the rights to the new Trigun: Badlands Rumble film, given the popularity of the property here in North American, someone will, which should provide a sales boost for Funimation’s re-release of the original series.

Also the fact that Trigun was one of Geneon's bestselling titles would appear to make it an excellent candidate for release on Blu-ray in order to recapture some of those original sales in the upgraded hi-def format.

Adult Swim to air FMA: Brotherhood

Funimation has confirmed that the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim will start broadcasting the 26-episode Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood series on Saturday night, February 13th. The series will debut at midnight (ET, PT) and at 11pm (CT, MT). Produced by Bones (the same studio responsible for the first 51-episode FMA series), the new series hews much closer to the narrative of the popular Full Metal Alchemist manga by Hiromu Arakawa, but the basic saga of the Elric brothers who attempt to resurrect their mother with alchemy and pay a significant price for their effort remains the same.

L.A. Weekly is reporting that Funimation’s vocal cast for Brotherhood is also the same with a few exceptions: Maxey Whitehead replaces Aaron Dismuke as Alphonse Elric and J. Michael Tatum takes over from Dameon Clarke as Scar.

The Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime began airing in Japan last April and Funimation started streaming subtitled episodes of the series here in North America almost simultaneously.

Funimation plans to release FMA: Brotherhood in two half-season 2-disc sets with Part One (episodes 1-13, 325 min. $49.98) due on May 25th. Two things about the release are very significant. First of all the fact that a high profile title like FMA: Brotherhood is debuting in the multi-disc format means that single-disc releases for TV anime series have virtually become obsolete, and secondly Funimation is releasing Part 1 on Blu-ray ($54.98) the same day as the conventional DVD version, which signals the increasing importance of the hi-def format.

The acquisition of FMA: Brotherhood by Adult Swim was expected , but there may be additional anime-related announcements from the popular late night network that has been the most potent North American TV outlet in terms of spurring anime and manga sales, but which had been reducing the amount of anime it aired over the past 12 months.

Worldwide "Sailor Moon' Revival Spreads Worldwide

A resurgence of interest in the Sailor Moon property has led to a return of the classic magical girl anime series on the Japanese airwaves last fall. Now Toei Animation is hoping to revive the property on a global scale starting in Italy. Toei is partnering with Backstage, which will handle the property’s rights in publishing, TV, and merchandising. Mediaset has acquired the TV rights to the 200-episode anime series and plans to begin broadcasting it in Italy in the fall of 2010.

Toei Animation’s Kanji Kazahaya told Global License: “We are certain that strategically Italy is the ideal country to initiate a global re-launch of the classic Japanese animated series such as Sailor Moon. The Italian public has traditionally been passionate about anime.”

No word yet on a possible North American revival of the property. DIC introduced the series (in a bowdlerized form) to American TV, while Pioneer and ADV released uncut versions of various elements of the extensive library of Sailor Moon anime. Tokyopop released the Sailor Moon manga here, but the licensed lapsed before it could issue the new revised editions that were issued in Japan starting in 2003.

"Cold Space" from Afro Samurai Duo and BOOM!

BOOM! Studios will launch Cold Space, a four issue $3.99 comic miniseries by two of the forces behind Afro Samurai, in April. Co-written by Samuel L. Jackson and Eric Calderon, who worked together as voice star and producer, respectively, of Afro Samurai, the launch issue will feature covers by Dave Johnson and Jeffrey Spokes, and interior art by Jeremy Rock. The two covers for the first issue will be in a 50/50 split, with a 1-in-10 incentive cover.

The story is of an on-the-run outlaw who crash-lands on a planet on the brink of civil war and decides to profit from the chaos.

“I’m a long time comic reader and big fan of many genres in graphic novels and manga…,” Jackson said. “Now’s my chance to put my stamp on the medium with something new, but with a classic taste of the stuff I already like.”