Australian digital studio Animal Logic will transform Astro Boy into a “Marvel-style” live-action film.
The studio behind Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians and The LEGO® Movie! Will pair up with Japan’s Tezuka Productions to tackle an Astro Boy remake, just as soon as they finish production on two further instalments in the LEGO franchise, Ninjago and The LEGO Batman Movie, slated for release in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Fans of the 62-year-old Osamu Tezuka creation can expect a “convergence of live-action, animation and visual effects” when the Mighty Atom is brought back to cinema after first appearing as a manga series in the 1950s.
“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,” Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian told The Sydney Morning Herald.
The studio has big plans for Astro Boy, pitting him against a Marvel star very early in the process.
“We’ve seen his as a manga, an anime and an animated movie but we’ve never seen him as a live action movie or him as a superhero. We actually see him in the same league as an Iron Man,” Nalbandian added.
Nalbandian will share production with Tezuka Productions and is on the lookout for a suitable writer and director before pitching what he believes will be a cross between “Guardians of the Galaxy meets Batman” to studios.
An animated version of Astro Boy found his way to the big screen in 2009 featuring the voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell and Charlize Theron, however Animal Logic will be looking to do a better job on a film Nalbandian says did not feature “high production values” or reach “a wide audience”.
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