31 Oct – Following his success with "Jack Reacher" and landing the director's gig for "Mission: Impossible 5", Christopher McQuarrie is now onboard to direct and produce an adaptation of the 1970s American animated television series "Star Blazers". McQuarrie was actually hired to only pen the script for "Star Blazers" in 2011, but it appears that Skydance Productions has recognized his talent. The 1970s series is in turn, an English language adaptation of the Japanese anime series, "Space Battleship Yamato", which spans three seasons. In the first season, Earth is attacked by Gamilon, a distant planet. The radiation from Gamilon's planet bombs forces everyone on Earth underground. They receive unexpected help from Queen Starsha of the planet Iscandar, who offers a device called "Cosmo DNA" which will remove the radiation, but since Iscandar is 148,000 light years away, Starsha also sends plans for the experimental Wave Motion Engine that, when constructed, will aid whoever can travel to Iscandar. On Earth, a crew is recruited, headed by Captain Avatar, and an old sunken battleship (the Yamato) is transformed into a spaceship (the Argo), outfitted with the Wave Motion Engine, and sent to Iscandar. The following seasons follows the Argo as it returns to Earth with the Cosmo DNA and their battles with their enemies: the Comet Empire, led by Prince Zordar, the Galmans (the re-formed Gamilon Empire) and the Bolar Federation.
Meanwhile, McQuarrie's "Mission: Impossible 5" is set to begin filming in February 2014 in London. Series' star Tom Cruise will return to lead and produce, while Simon Pegg has voiced out his interest in reprising his role as Benji Dunn.