The Australian animation studio Animal Logic is set to make a live-action superhero film, based on the popular manga character Astro Boy. The makers of past animated hits The Lego Movie and Happy Feet, have signed a deal with Japan’s Tezuka Productions.
Chief executive Zareh Nalbandian said the plan was to create a “Marvel-style” franchise that would be “at the very convergence of live-action, animation and visual effects”, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“There are very few characters in the entertainment world like Astro Boy that haven’t already been brought to the big screen in a live-action movie,” said Nalbandian.
Authored and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy was originally titled Mighty Atom, and was a popular Japanese manga series in the 1950s and 60s. The character found new life in the following decades as an animated television show.
The series is based on a robot boy modelled after the late son of his inventor Doctor Tenma, who passed away in a car accident. Astro Boy quickly proves to have special powers and skills that he uses to fight crime and injustice, often defending humans from other more maniacal robots.
A 2009 film adaption of the character was co-produced by American, Hong Kong and Chinese film companies. Called Astro Boy, it had a US$65m budget, featured the voices of Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell, but outside of China it did not fare well at the global box office.
Animal Logic is one of the world’s busiest animation and visual effects studios having won several awards for its work in The Lego Movie. Fans have suggested it was snubbed by the Oscars when the film failed to receive an Academy award nomination for best movie.
Founded by Nalbandian and Chris Godfrey in 1991, the company’s film credits include the Matrix series and, most recently, The Great Gatsby, Unbroken, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Rover.
