Category: News

VIZ Media, LLC has announced an innovative and unprecedented multimedia plan to provide near-simultaneous Japan-US. release of Naruto, one of the most popular Japanese animated and Manga properties in the world. This campaign is the latest expansion of VIZ Media’s ongoing strategy to utilize the web to its maximum potential to stream a variety of hit animated properties.

Beginning on January 15th the latest episode of the Naruto Shippuden (English-subtitled) animated series will be available for free viewing on the ultimate destination for anything Naruto – the official NARUTO website, www.naruto.com, within days of its original airdate in Japan. A new English-subtitled episode will be added every Thursday thereafter.

On January 2, 2009 VIZ will also debut, for free, eight uncut, English-subtitled episodes from the beginning of the Naruto Shippuden series on their website. Each Friday thereafter there will be an additional eight uncut, English-subtitled episodes added on the site until the series eventually catches up to the current third season of the hit program.  Also, coming this week, an exclusive sneak peek of Naruto Shippuden (English-subtitled) debuting on Naruto.com.

On the Manga side, VIZ has accelerated their publishing schedule for upcoming editions of the best-selling series, making them available to North American audiences sooner than ever before. Beginning in February 2009, 11 new volumes of Naruto will be released over three months, moving the series from Volume 34 (February 2009) to Volume 44 (April 2009) before returning to a quarterly release schedule beginning with Volume 45 (July 2009). First print-run editions of the volumes released in March and April will include a special promotional item – a bookmark or sticker.

“This kind of accelerated and coordinated broadcast and publishing schedule is a first for VIZ Media and we are very excited to bring new episodes of Naruto Shippuden to millions of eager domestic fans for free with this special campaign,” Alvin Lu, Vice President of Production, VIZ Media said in a release. “The adventures of Naruto and his friends are underscored with themes of friendship, loyalty, responsibility, as well as failure and redemption, and have turned this unique series into a tremendous international hit. New and old fans alike won’t want to miss this special opportunity to watch online the latest episodes featuring the world’s favorite ninja mere days after their original air dates in Japan.”
 

Zuda Comics will offer up their first print compilations next summer according to Wired. Bayou by Jeremy Love will have his feature collected first, coming in June.

The magazine says the strip “tackles racism and violence in 1930s Mississippi, is as hypnotic as it is unsettling.”

Our own Dave Gallaher’s High Moon, illustrated by Steve Ellis, will be out in time for Halloween.

Zuda is now in its second year of existence and has been DC’s unique approach to digital comics.  While advertiser supported, the print compilations will go towards monetizing the site for parent company DC Comics.

The magazine notes, “What’s new is Zuda’s ability to use the internet as a minor league for major comics fame. Now that its webcomics are beginning to metamorphose into printed graphic novels, the operation should reach even more comics fans.”
 

Just weeks after signing Joe Johnston to direct First Avenger: Captain America, Marvel Studios has announced that Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are likely to be the screenwriters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the duo is in final negotiations to step in,

The film comes with many complicating factors starting with a locked in release date of May 6, 2011 and the need to include elements that have been established in Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk as well as setting up plot threads that will play out two months later in The Avengers film.

The movie will be set during World War II and feature scrawny Steve Rogers, denied enlistment in the army but invited to be a test subject for Project Super Solider.  He is then transformed into the star-spangled hero and issued a red, white, and blue uniform to inspire the troops and general public as Captain America.

Whether or not his sidekick Bucky will be included remains the one plot element not yet discussed by executives.  One can presume the Red Skull will be the villain along with hordes of Nazis.

The screenwriters have most recently handled The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian so they have experience with adapting works from others.  Much of their work will come from Captain America #1, published in 1941 by Timely Comics, now known as Marvel Comics. The character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

NBC may have been hasty. Apparently, the plans to shelve Lipstick Jungle were premature as it sparked an uptick in ratings last Friday night. Rabid fans have also been vocal about trying to salvage the female-centric drama starring Brooke Shields.

The series was shuffled from Wednesday nights to Fridays and in addition to the stronger overnight ratings, DVR usage show a stronger base of support than expected. In fact, the numbers jumped 50%; an indicator that delayed viewing is an increasing factor in judging how well any network show is performing.

Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, told The New York Times that the network will now complete work on the 13 episodes ordered and they will all air.  There are currently four episodes yet to be broadcast. Should ratings growth continue, the back nine episodes may be ordered. He cautioned against exuberance, noting the serialized drama does not repeat well making it a costly acquisition.

While it’s not something we suspect most of our readers watch, we feel compelled to be thorough once a story starts.
 

P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast’s nine volume House of Night series has been optioned by producers Michael Birnbaum (John Tucker Must Die) and Jeremiah Chechik (Benny and Joon) according to Variety.

The young adult novel series is yet another to feature teens and vampires, a sub-genre exemplified by Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. The conceit, according to the trade, "’vampyres’ are accepted in society; they possess a genetic anomaly that manifests itself in some people at puberty. Vampyres are ‘marked’ and sent to the House of Night, a school that offers training necessary to become an adult vampyre.”

The lead character, 16 year old Zoey Redbird, has just been turned into a vampire and switches schools with all the attendant teen issues plus the vampire factor.

The series kicked off just last year with Marked. The fourth book, Untamed, was released in September by St. Martin’s Griffin.

"P.C. and Kristin Cast created a thrilling world that juxtaposes teen drama with supernatural suspense, using the transition from human to vampire as a metaphor for the transition from adolescence to adulthood," Birnbaum said.
 

Universal Studios would like to revisit the Klumps once more and have put out an open call to writers for pitches for a third Nutty Professor film according to The Hollywood Reporter. Universal and Imagine Entertainment saw ox office success with two films based on the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic.

The previous two were tour de forces for Eddie Murphy and the studio would like the pitches to pick up on the threads from The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. The basic concept involved the overweight but kindly professor accidentally turning into a slim, obnoxious love machine and hilarity ensued.

The 1996 remake scored $270 million while the 2000 sequel found just $162 million in ticket sales.  However, the desire for familiar properties trumps concern over eroding interest in such humor or Murphy, whose box office draw has been diminishing with disastrous career choices (last summer’s Starship Dave was a new low).

He has not signed for a third film and would be approached only when there was something to show him.