Fans of the classic Japanese manga ‘Astro Boy’ may have reason to celebrate. The iconic character is set to get a modern big screen adaptation.
With comic movies making a boatload of money and ‘Ghost in the Shell‘ having recently been announced to bring another Japanese media to the big screen, this should come as no surprise. The Production company Animal Logic Entertainment has teamed up with Japan’s Tezuka Productions to bring the property to the big screen. We are in such an early stage of development here that no writer or director is attached to the film yet. That being said, Animal Logic will have a heads up on many studios on the special effects work. They are the studio responsible for such works as this summer’s upcoming ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron‘ and the previously released ‘Happy Feet’.
This isn’t the first time ‘Astro Boy’ has tried to make the jump to the big screen. The only previous success was a 2009 animated feature which had Freddie Highmore (‘Bates Motel‘,’Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’) voicing the character. Originally created as a manga in 1950 by Osamu Tezuka, it ran for decades in both comic and newspaper comic strip forms. Several anime series have also been released based upon the character throughout the 70s and 80s.
The series was created to show off Astro who was created by a genius scientist to replace his dead son. He has quite a life of adventure from that point on which leads him to a new owner and a mission to fight evil with his array of super powers. Previous incarnations may have targeted a younger demographic though this new take is going to focus on the same age range that Marvel and DC have been having success with.
Zareh Nalbandian, who will be producing for Animal Logic Entertainment, has said that, “We’ve seen him 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. We want to make it inspirational but not soft.”
With the multi-billion dollar industry of comic books adapted into movies, it is no surprise that we’re hearing a new take on the ‘Astro Boy’ franchise. If the studios market the movie properly, this could be a huge win for everyone.
Are you looking forward to a new take on ‘Astro Boy’? Do you think manga adaptations will have as much success as the comic book ones that are currently outselling almost everything at the box office? Share your thoughts below!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter