Gundam 00 Premieres on the Sci Fi Channel Tonight

1st 2 episodes of re-imagining of robot war anime to run at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT

The Sci Fi television network in the United States will premiere Bandai Entertainment's English dubbing of the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 anime series with two episodes tonight at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. The series provides a new interpretation of the Gundam robot war mythology that is set in our own real-world history.

In this wartorn future, mankind has splintered into three major factions over energy resources. However, a group known as the Celestial Being aims to eradicate war with four giant robotic mecha known as Gundams and their Gundam Meister pilots.

Fullmetal Alchemist's Seiji Mizushima directed this series with scripts supervised by Honey and Clover's Yousuke Kuroda. Loveless and Earthian manga creator Yun Kouga designed the original characters, which Basilisk's Michinori Chiba adapted for animation.

Gundam 00 to Premiere November 24th on Sci Fi Channel's Ani-Monday

November 11, 2008 (Cypress, CA) – Bandai Entertainment Inc. announced today that it has licensed the television rights to the series “Mobile Suit Gundam 00” to Starz Media. The series will have its U.S. premiere on the Sci Fi Channel November 24th at 11 p.m. on SCI FI's “Ani- Monday” programming block. Two episodes will air that night and each week throughout the fall and spring of 2009.

“Mobile Suit Gundam 00” is the latest installment in the long running franchise and takes place in the year 2307 A.D. When fossil fuels have been completely depleted and humanity has turned to solar energy to maintain its way of life, the controlling nations of the solar power find themselves at war with more impoverished countries. These sun-deprived countries threaten the “promised land of God,” which leads to the formation of a group called the Celestial Being, whose purpose is to end war and unite humanity through the use of four Gundam mech.

The series is directed by Seiji Mizushima whose past credits as a director and storyboard artist include Fullmetal Alchemist, Evangelion, and Appleseed: Ex Machina.

Following its U.S. broadcast it will be released on DVD in 2009 by Bandai Entertainment Inc.

Geneon to Merge with Universal Pictures Japan

The advertising and marketing company Dentsu has announced on Wednesday that it will transfer the majority ownership in its Geneon Entertainment home video subsidiary to NBC Universal's Universal Pictures International Entertainmnent (UPIE). UPIE has agreed to merge Geneon Entertainment with its own Universal Pictures Japan (UPJ), which handles operations in the country.

The transfer agreement was signed on November 7, and the actual transfer is scheduled to take place at the end of the month. The merger of UPJ and Geneon will take place in February of next year, and the resulting company will assume a new name. UPIE will own 80.1% of the new company, while Dentsu will retain 19.9%.

Currently, Geneon Entertainment has 3.6 billion yen (about US$37 million) in capital, which is 100% owned by Dentsu. Geneon Entertainment President and CEO Sumio Kiga oversaw 178 employees as of the end of October. Pioneer had originally established the company in March 1981 to produce videos in the Laserdisc format.

Dentsu acquired the majority of the outstanding shares in Pioneer Entertainment and renamed the company as Geneon Entertainment in 2003. Geneon has already been distributing Universal Pictures' DVDs in Japan since March of this year.

Captain America Gets a Director

Marvel Studios has chosen Joe Johnston to direct First Avenger: Captain America. Johnston, who storyboarded the convoy action sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark and directed Jurassic Park III, Hidalgo, and the new remake of The Wolfman, began talking with Marvel about Captain America nearly two years ago and, according to The Reporter “much of the project’s current directions resulted from those early conversations.”

First Avenger: Captain America will be set during World War II and will likely include an origin saga. Cap will also be appearing in Marvel Studios’ Avengers, which will be set in the present.

Marvel Studios expects to hire writers for the Captain America film in the very near future. The film is currently slated to debut on May 6th, 2011.

Brett Ratner Helming Conan?

According to The Hollywood Reporter director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men 3: The Last Stand) “is in final negotiations to take on literature’s most famous barbarian.” Be prepared for a massive collective wail from certain quarters of fandom that don’t see Ratner as anything more than a mediocre director of campy cop capers. Speaking of which, it is likely that Ratner will helm Beverly Hills Cop IV (penned by Wanted scribes Michael Brandt and Derek Haas) for Paramount before commencing his work on the new Conan movie—both films are tentatively slated to be released in 2010.

Co-produced by Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate, and written by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, the new Conan film is an origin saga for the mesomorphic mutilator that hews closely to the spirit of the original Robert E. Howard stories (see “Conan Movie on the Fast Track”). According to The Reporter, the new Conan film will be R-rated (like the original John Milius 1982 Conan the Barbarian, and not PG-13 like the franchise-snuffing Conan the Destroyer from 1984) and have a budget of $85 million (down from earlier estimates of $100 million).

Adult Swim Increases Anime Programming

Starting on November 8th the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is revising its schedule once again with a 5-hour anime block that begins at 1am (ET, PT). In a major format change, the Adult Swim Saturday night schedule will not involve repeating shows broadcast earlier the same night. The Saturday night Adult Swim schedule begins with two hours of its original English language programming, which is followed by ten anime series including Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2, both of which had been banished to the “Milkman” hour of 5am (see “Adult Swim Cuts Back on Anime”) and Shin Chan, which had been dropped off the schedule entirely.

The anime portion of the new Adult Swim schedule begins with Bleach at 1am followed by Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (1:30am), Code Geass (2am), and Shin Chan (2:30am). Then comes a parade of the Adult Swim's greatest anime hits--most of which will start with their first episodes—Fooly Cooly (FLCL, 3am), Death Note (3:30am), Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (4am), Cowboy Bebop (4:30am), Big O (5am), and Inuyasha (5:30am).
The new Adult Swim schedule represents an increase in the number of hours of anime programming from 6 hours to 8.5 hours per week and an even bigger expansion of the number of anime series, due largely to the ending of the practice of repeating the first 3 hours Adult Swim programming during the second late night 3 hour shift. Of course there is no telling how long Adult Swim will stick with this current schedule of anime programs.

'Jurassic Park' author Michael Crichton dies

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Crichton, who helped create the TV show "ER" and wrote the best-sellers "Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain," "Sphere" and "Rising Sun," has died in Los Angeles, his public relations firm said in a news release.

Crichton died unexpectedly Tuesday "after a courageous and private battle against cancer," the release said.

He was 66.

Crichton, a medical doctor, was attracted to cautionary science tales.

"Jurassic Park" -- perhaps his best-known work -- concerned capturing the DNA of dinosaurs and bringing them to life on a modern island, where they soon run amok; "The Andromeda Strain," his first major fiction success, involves an alien microorganism that's studied in a special military compound after causing death in a nearby community.

Crichton also invited controversy with some of his scientific views. He was an avowed skeptic of global climate change, giving lectures warning against "consensus science." He later took on global warming and the theories surrounding it in his 2004 novel, "State of Fear," which attracted attacks in its own right from scientists, including NASA climatologist James Hansen. iReport.com: Were you a fan? Share your tributes.

Crichton was a distinctive figure in the entertainment business, a trained physician whose interests included writing, filmmaking and television. (He was physically distinctive as well, standing 6 feet 9 inches.)

He published "The Andromeda Strain" while he was still a medical student at Harvard Medical School. He wrote a story about a 19th-century train robbery, called "The Great Train Robbery," and then directed the 1979 film version.

He also directed several other films, including "Westworld" (1973), "Coma" (1978), "Looker" (1981) and "Runaway" (1984).

In 1993, while working on the film version of "Jurassic Park" with Steven Spielberg, he teamed with the director to create "ER." The NBC series set in a Chicago emergency room debuted in 1994 and became a huge hit, making a star of George Clooney. Crichton originally wrote the script for the pilot in 1974.

"Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park,' " said Spielberg, a friend of Crichton's for 40 years, according to The Associated Press. "He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth. ... Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place."

Crichton was "an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful," "ER" executive producer John Wells told the AP. "No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest. Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology, archaeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation."

Michael Crichton was born in Chicago in 1942 and grew up in New York's suburbs. His father was a journalist and Michael loved the writing profession. He went to medical school partly out of a concern he wouldn't be able to make writing a career, but the success of "The Andromeda Strain" in 1969 -- the book was chosen by the Book-of-the-Month Club and optioned by Hollywood -- made him change his mind, though he still had an M.D.

Though most of Crichton's books were major best-sellers involving science, he could ruffle feathers when he took on social issues. "Rising Sun" (1992) came out during a time when Americans feared Japanese ascendance, particularly when it came to technology. "Disclosure" (1994) was about a sexual harassment case.

Crichton won an Emmy, a Peabody, a Writers Guild of America Award for "ER," and won other awards as well.

"Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand," the news release said.

Crichton was married five times and had one child.

A private funeral service is expected.