"G-Force" Movie in the works? TransMute!

"All members Of G Force Prepare to Transmute into the Fiery Phoenix ..."
We grew up calling it "G-Force". Some of you might have known it as "Battle of the Planets." But to the world at large, it was called "Gatchaman".
And it was a ground-breaking cartoon that pioneered the anime art style.
And now, it just may be coming to the big screen. (There is also a separate movie called "G-force" in the works as well, but it's not the same characters).
The history of "Battle of the Planets" is like so: Tokyo's Fuji Television premiered an all new action/hero series by Tatsunoko Productions.
The series plot: In the distant future, Earth is threatened by Gallactor, a vicious organization that combines terrorist tactics with advanced scientific knowledge in an attempt to take over the world. The only thing standing in Gallactor's way is the International Science Organization (the ISO) and its chief scientist, Professor Kozaburou Nambu. Dr. Nambu uses all the ISO's resources in a "war of information" against Gallactor, but his primary weapon is his pet secret project: five young people who comprise the Kagaku Ninjatai ("Science Ninja Squad").

Inspired by American comic book heroes, Gatchaman not only became Tatsunoko's most successful superhero show, but also set a number of precedents in the SF anime genre. It was the first to introduce the concept of a "team show," where there were five basic character types (hero, loner, big guy, token kid and female) and five colors (red, blue, pink, yellow and green), and the cooperation of all the members of a team was necessary to use their secret weapons. This was later adopted for use in the Giant Robot anime genre and the popular "spandex and latex" live-action hero shows. Compared to other anime shows of the age, Gatchaman showed a degree of realism, depicting grief and death in a way that made viewers take a good hard look at a medium previously considered "just for kids."
Certain episodes were more than capable of terrifying the average seven or eight-year-old--Gatchaman's target audience.
For its time, Gatchaman was a very successful series. The first season (October, 1972 to Spring, 1973) saw the first series climax at episode 53, with the discovery and self-sacrifice of Ken's father. The second season, which lasted until autumn of 1974, stunned viewers with the final showdown with Berg Katse and the death of Condor Joe in episode 105.
Paul Dini has signed to do a screenplay for the new exciting CG-animated movie called Gatchaman for 2009. Most people know Gatchaman as "Battle of the Planets". Imagi Animation Studios and Warner are working all together to bring Gatchaman to the big screen in North America. "Astro Boy" will also get a movie, seems 2009 will be the year anime.
Wikipedia says "Battle of the Planets" 1978) is the first Westernized adaptation of the 1972 Japanese animated television series known as Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman. Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment. The adaptation is generally faithful to the plot and character development of the original Gatchaman series, but significant additions and reductions were made in order to increase appeal to the North American juvenile television market of the late 1970s.
As of February 2007, Sandy Frank's 30-year license to Battle of the Planets is expired. It is not clear how this will affect the future of the series.

"The original series was one of the classics of early anime, and the film will be very true to the Japanese source material," said Dini. "As a studio, Imagi is constantly breaking the boundaries of animated adventure. Not only are their action sequences amazing, but their characters are driven, complex and play for life-or-death stakes. It’s a great environment for a writer with a rather dark take on animation."
Click here for a list of characters in the groundbreaking TV series "Battle of the Planets."

Update: Nicholas Cage, Tracy Morgan sign on for "G-Force".