Hurray! J-POP
-ASTRO BOY To Be Cinematized!-

Manga is an international term today. To credit the Japanese anime craze to Osamu Tezuka’s ASTRO BOY would not be an overstatement. Several of Osamu Tezuka’s legacies in the history of Japanese animation includes his credit to pioneering the Age of Televised Animation, the production of plot-based animation, and producing numerous renowned contributors to the animation industry from his production company among others. Although Tezuka was referred to as “the god of manga,” he disliked being called so himself. He took numerous opportunities to explain, “I am not the god of animation, but the god of animation has possessed me.” Instead, Tezuka attributed this title to Walt Disney, who inspired Tezuka to enter the animation industry. Incidentally, Tezuka had his one and only encounter with Disney at the New York Expo in 1965, which he attended as a correspondent. Tezuka later commented, “I was so nervous and excited that I could’ve jumped out of my skin.”
ASTRO BOY is a science fiction manga starring a boy-robot hero with 100,000W of horsepower, set in the twenty-first century. ASTRO BOY attends school with other human children, and uses his seven powers (*1) to effectively solve crimes when they occur. While he is gentle with a strong sense of justice, his sensitive side is depicted through his struggles to fit in amongst humans.
 In 1952, the monthly magazine Shonen serialized Atomu Taishi, the predecessor of ASTRO BOY that aired in 1963 as the first nationally televised animation series in Japan. Since then, the series was remade twice and still considered the most renowned and popular of all mangas by Tezuka today. Since airing in Japan, ASTRO BOY was exported to Europe and Asia with a strong following of fans. Since then, NBC Film acquired distribution rights in the U.S., and televised ASTRO BOY in 1963.
Stanley Kubrik, not reknown then, wrote a letter to Tezuka requesting his participation in his film: “I am planning to make a science fiction movie, and all the robots, space station, futuristic city in your animation is exactly what I had envisioned for my own film. I would like to request your artistic direction for my futuristic science-fiction film.” Although Tezuka was very interested in his offer, his professional commitments in Japan prevented him from accepting. Five years later in April of 1968, 2001: Space Odyssey was released. This incident produced the masterpiece, hailed as the most immortal title of Japanese animation in the history of motion pictures.
 I’m sorry for the long preface, but the production and release of ASTRO BOY is targeted for 2009 with full, three-dimensional computer graphics and animation.　This film will be produced by Imagi Animation Studio, a computer graphics and animation studio headquartered in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The total production fee for this film is approximately 50 million dollars. 　Last year, Imagi Animation Studio produced the hit film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This year, Imagi Asia is producing Gatchaman in full computer graphics.
According to a press release by producer Maryann Garger, the voice actor casted for this Hollywood version of ASTRO BOY is a child star Freddie Highmore, 16, with film credits in Never Land (2000), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and various other films. This film is to be directed by David Bowers, whose previous works include The Road of El Dorado (2000), Neverland (2004), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and Chicken Run (2000) among others. Bowers started his career in an English animation studio Cosgrove Hall, where he was an animator. Later on, he joined Amblimation, Steven Spielberg’s animation studio in London.
Producer Maryann Garger commented on the selected casts for this film, “Freddie is one of the most talented of young actors today. I feel he is ideal for the role of ASTRO BOY.” Director David Bowers also added, “I’ve had a lifelong affection for the original Astro Boy, so am looking forward to giving him the full action-adventure Hollywood treatment. His story is both emotional and spectacular, so it absolutely lends itself to the big screen. With the amazing crew that Imagi has assembled, I feel there’s an opportunity to create something very special – a film to audiences, have them on the edge of their seats, and hopefully make them laugh, too.”
The script was written by veteran screenwriter Timothy Harris, who wrote Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Twins (1988). Hollywood movies based on Japanese manga and animation is the Transformer that was a hit last year, Speed Racer due for release in May, and Dragon Ball due for international release in August.

(*1) The 7 powers of ASTRO BOY
1. 100,000 W of horsepower
2. Fluency in 60 languages (The number of member nations in the United Nations in 1963)
3. Ability to differentiate between good and evil humans
4. Audibility that is 1000 times that of a human
5. Eyes are equipped with functions of a flashlight
6. A machine gun is hidden in the buttocks, and his left arm turns into an arm-canon
7. The ability to fly at the speed of Mach 5 with a nuclear fusion-powered jet