National Geographic Channel and GE announced today an unprecedented
partnership to present BREAKTHROUGH, a new series produced by
Imagine Entertainment and Asylum Entertainment.
Executive produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Steve Michaels,
Jonathan Koch and Mark Dowley, BREAKTHROUGH is an anthology about
leading scientists and how their cutting-edge innovations and
advancements will change our lives in the immediate future and beyond.
The series intends to bring to life the stories, people and technology
behind these breakthroughs, and show how they are changing our world.
Each hour-long episode will be directed by a Hollywood visionary, with
Angela Bassett, Peter Berg, Paul Giamatti, Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard
and Brett Ratner as the first six directors.
The first episodes, now in production, explore remarkable breakthroughs
in brain science, longevity, water, energy, pandemics and cyborg
technology. Howard will direct the longevity episode, Giamatti will
investigate the latest in technology, Ratner will explore the brain,
Berg will tackle pandemics, Bassett will deal with water issues and
Goldsman will bring us energy.
Presented by National Geographic and GE, brands long dedicated to
innovation, science and exploration, the series will air this fall on
National Geographic Channels in 440 million homes in 171 countries and
in 45 languages, as well as on the Spanish language network Nat Geo
Mundo. Additional executive producers include Michael Rosenberg from
Imagine Entertainment, Ryann Lauckner and Kurt Sayenga from Asylum
Entertainment, Beth Comstock from GE, and Michael Cascio and Allan
Butler from National Geographic Channels.
Life-saving, mind-boggling innovation is a part of everyday life, so we
sometimes take it for granted. It happens in the blink of an eye — on
battlefields and playgrounds, in supercolliders and the International
Space Station, in smart homes and smart cars. These are modern-day
revolutions in how we live. BREAKTHROUGH will explore the
courage, imagination, passion and self-sacrifice of the scientists
bringing these innovations to life.
“Modern science and technology are the keys to addressing the challenges
the world is facing today,” said Courteney Monroe, CEO, National
Geographic Channels. “By partnering with GE — as dedicated to science
and innovation as we are — and by working with top-tier directors at the
helm, BREAKTHROUGH will celebrate the curiosity, innovation and
exploration of our world, and spotlight the individuals and institutions
at the center of these groundbreaking achievements.”
“GE has always been driven by restless invention,” said Beth Comstock,
CMO at GE and president of GE Business Innovations. “New technologies
are disrupting the world every day on personal, economic and social
levels, and the efforts that go into fueling that — though often unseen
— can be astounding. This project will lift the lid to reveal our
civilization’s tremendous evolution and still-to-be-tapped potential.”
“GE’s involvement brings a certain poetic justice to this endeavor,”
said producer Brian Grazer. “Thomas Edison, GE’s founder, and Alexander
Graham Bell, a founding member of the National Geographic Society, are
two of our greatest inventors. Their breakthroughs laid the foundation
for tremendous innovation and continue to inspire generations of
scientists and engineers. That same spirit will, no doubt, be evident in
every episode.”
Ron Howard agreed: “While Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison seem
odd bedfellows, their infamous enmity actually benefited their
inventiveness as each man sought to outdo the other. It seems fitting
that their legacies will come together to celebrate and foster the
creativity of other inventors and innovators who astound us every day
with their ideas.”
Executive producer Steve Michaels added, “It’s a privilege to tell the
stories behind our greatest innovations. Technology is advancing so
swiftly, it’s as if every day there’s another jaw-dropping
transformative moment. The stories about what’s behind those moments are
as incredible as the breakthroughs themselves.”
GE and National Geographic Channel are united in their commitment to
inspire the most curious minds the world over with the new series BREAKTHROUGH.
About National Geographic Channels
Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington,
D.C., the National Geographic Channels US are a joint venture between
National Geographic and Fox Networks. The Channels contribute to the
National Geographic Society’s commitment to exploration, conservation
and education with smart, innovative programming and profits that
directly support its mission. Launched in January 2001, National
Geographic Channel (NGC) celebrated its fifth anniversary with the debut
of NGC HD. In 2010, the wildlife and natural history cable channel Nat
Geo WILD was launched, and in 2011, the Spanish-language network Nat Geo
Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation’s
major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with NGC
currently available in more than 90 million U.S. homes. Globally,
National Geographic Channel is available in more than 440 million homes
in 171 countries and 45 languages. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t
and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings
together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can.
In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is
inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the
world. www.ge.com
About Imagine
Imagine Entertainment was founded in 1986 by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer
to create independently produced feature films, television programs and
other original programming. Imagine Entertainment has been honored with
more that 60 prestigious awards including 10 Academy Awards and 36 Emmy
awards. Past productions include Academy Award Best Picture winner A
Beautiful Mind, 8 Mile, Apollo 13, American
Gangster, The Da Vinci Code, 8 Mile, Liar,
Liar, Backdraft, and Parenthood to name a few. Upcoming
films include Get on Up and In The Heart of the
Sea. Television productions include NBC’s Parenthood,
NBC’s Friday Night Lights, Fox’s 24 and 24:
Live Another Day, Fox’s and Netflix’s Arrested Development, Fox's Gang
Related, as well as HBO's From the Earth to the Moon,
for which Howard and Grazer won the Emmy® for Outstanding Mini-Series.
Current television productions include Fox’s Empire. Ron
Howard and Brian Grazer began their collaboration in 1985 with the hit
comedies Night Shift and Splash, and
continue to run Imagine Entertainment as chairmen.
About Asylum
Asylum Entertainment has produced a diverse slate of event miniseries,
feature films, gritty documentaries and provocative unscripted series —
thousands of hours of programming in its 12-year history. Notable
productions include the miniseries “The Kennedys,” which won four of the
10 Emmy awards for which it was nominated, and “Ring of Fire,” which
garnered four more Emmy nods. Last year, Asylum received glowing reviews
for its feature documentary “Happy Valley,” about the Penn State sex
scandal, as well as for a coming-of-age feature film titled “Small
Time.” Asylum’s event miniseries about Marilyn Monroe’s turbulent
relationship with her schizophrenic mother (starring Susan Sarandon,
Emily Watson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kelli Garner) will air in May, and
a film about the young devotees of Charles Manson is now in
pre-production. Asylum’s factual series include ESPN's Emmy-winning
series “30 for 30,” “Beverly Hills Pawn,” “Addicted,” “Being Mike Tyson”
and “American Gangster.” Asylum Entertainment is owned by Legendary
Entertainment, a leading media company with film (Legendary Pictures),
television and digital (Legendary Television and Digital Media) and
comics (Legendary Comics) divisions dedicated to owning, producing and
delivering content to mainstream audiences with a targeted focus on the
powerful fandom demographic.
Copyright Business Wire 2015