Astro Boy

[Ben]

I'm very hopeful that this will be some good old simple action adventure fun.

[Randall]

Me too. I'd love for this to be a good family film. Looks promising so far.

[Darkblade]

I did however enjoy the CGI TMNT that came out in 2007....Normally Im not a fan of movies based on animated stuff but however this looks promising. Will this get a PG rating?

[eddievalient]

Some of the teaser art has him shirtless (borderline creepy) and this last standee he has a blue polo shirt (boring).

Am I wrong, or was Astro shirtless in the original series? Putting a shirt on him here won't change the story one bit, but to me it smacks of American prudishness. It's so typical at this point that I'm not the least bit surprised. The movie does look cool though. Does anyone know the release date?

[Randall]

Astro Boy was shirtless while in action, but he did wear a shirt at home, school or during social gatherings. I'm sure he'll sport the appropriate looks in the movie.

[Daniel]

Does anyone know the release date?

Currently it's October 23, 2009.

[CGIFanatic]

I sure hope they will get their financing issues straightened out in short order.

www.firstshowing.net/2009/01/25/imagi-a ... ting-down/

[Ben]

E-gadzooks!

We only just published the news that Imagi would eventually be bringing Tusker to the screen!

I do agree and hope they can be salvaged/rescued by an American distributor. Warner Bros. would be a good fit if they could work out a deal. I liked what I saw on the TMNT movie and though there was ample room for improvement, that looked like it was coming through AstroBoy.

I shouldn't think that those who own the Astro license are going to stand by and let this sink, so I would say at least this film is safe through whatever merchandise franchisers they have in place, but after that? What a shame if it comes to pass...

[Cinderallaboi]

Here is a standee of Astro Boy from the AFM. A trailer is expected to be shown in theaters within this month.




Source: http://felixip.blogspot.com/2008/11/ast ... party.html

speaking of that here is a trailer for the movie i found

[Wolf]

Whew! False alarm guys. Astro Boy is still a Go.

http://io9.com/5139671/cool-your-boot-j ... e=true&s=i

[Ben]

Phew...and here's hoping Imagi can continue with their future plans. I just wanna see Tusker!

[Darkblade]

Thank goodnes that was just a false alarm...I thought that this movie was a goner..

[GeorgeC]

E-gadzooks!


I shouldn't think that those who own the Astro license are going to stand by and let this sink,

It's a relatively small company, Ben.

Part of the problem with the Astro Boy license was that nobody was sure WHO owned it until the early 1990s! There were comic books licensed in the US that technically shouldn't have been produced. Money was being exchanged/paid to people who DIDN'T own Astro Boy!

The creator of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka, went through a few bankrupt companies until the present-day company that bears his name was founded. Even then, the older series that made his name in anime didn't initially belong to Tezuka Productions!

When companies go bankrupt (you know this, too), their assets get seized and people often lose control of and rights to previous film works. That's what happened to Osamu Tezuka with Astro Boy (the anime).

(I'm pretty sure Tezuka kept control of the Astro Boy manga. It was the original anime series that had its rights held up for a number of years. Tezuka kept on producing new Astro Boy manga right up until a few years before he died and revamped version of the original series in 1980.)

As bad as copyrights are in the US, they seem far less entangled than they are in Japan. There are whole TV series and movies that would probably find an audience in the US if there weren't so many legal and financial situations tied up with them. It's everything from who owns the film footage, the right to license toy products, music clearances, and anything else you can think of. It's a nightmare!

That was the case with Astro Boy for a while until the rights situation got resolved in the 1990s and Tezuka Productions got full control of the property years after its founder died.

It's not entirely clear what's up with this company producing Astro Boy.

Their financing situation isn't unique. Every major studio in the US is cutting way back on film production and has found their lines of credit for filmmaking have been tightened. Imagi's running under tighter budgets than most American-produced animated films are to begin with.

For everybody that thinks Astro Boy is a shoo-in to be a big hit, I'm not so sure. We can all agree it needs story and heart, but if there isn't an international audience for an optimistic, wide-eyed android kid...!

Remember, even the last Astro Boy TV series bombed in Japan. And Astro is one of Japan's big cultural icons.

[Ben]

I agree that the film isn't a certified hit, but with the right marketing behind it there's a sizable cult audience built in there. My main concern is that Summit is no Warner Bros. and could struggle with selling a unique film like this in a crowded marketplace. My betting is still that they'll tie with a bigger distributor either home or abroad.

[GeorgeC]

The latest I've read about Imagi is that nobody knows what's going on with the company. Apparently, the money problems are worse than thought.

When there is silence from the higher-ups and people are told not to come to work and you're hearing conflicting stories, NOT good news!

I can hear the distinct whistling of Chopin's Death March...