Just read this on the AOL horror board...the director died yesterday:
"Kantoku "Kinji" Fukasaku -- Japanese director of such films as THE GREEN SLIME, MESSAGE FROM SPACE, VIRUS and the recent, critically acclaimed BATTLE ROYALE -- died earlier today in Tokyo at the age of 72. The cause was prostate cancer. He was in the process of preparing a sequel to BATTLE ROYALE at the time of his death; the direction of the picture will be taken over by his son"