Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments
Astro
Boy
10/9/08 - Heroes' Kristen Bell has joined the voice cast of the upcoming computer-animated Astro Boy movie, Variety reported. Matt Lucas (Little Britain) also joins the cast of the film from Hong Kong-based Imagi Studios. The movie previously announced that Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland and Freddie Highmore had been cast. The tale of a boy robot is an adaptation of the classic comic-book story created by manga author Osamu Tezuka and is slated for U.S. release Oct. 23, 2009.
10/8/08 - Matt Lucas (Little Britain) has joined the voice cast of Imagi Studios' computer-animated Astro Boy movie.
9/23/08 - Summit Entertainment announced that it will release Astro Boy in North America on Oct. 23, 2009. Summit and Imagi are putting together the final details on a marketing plan designed to reach both the family movie-going audience and adult fans of Astro Boy alike. Produced by Imagi Studios, the computer-animated movie features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy, with Freddie Highmore in the title role. David Bowers is directing from a screenplay written by Timothy Harris, with Maryann Garger producing. The film is based on the Japanese manga created in the early 1950s by Osamu Tezuka. Set in the future, the new Astro Boy is a classic superhero origin story about a young robot with incredible powers, created by a brilliant scientist, and his adventure-filled journey in search of his identity and destiny, taking him into a netherworld of robot gladiators before he returns to save Metro City.
8/25/08 - Kristen Bell will voice the lead female voice in the upcoming computer-animated film Astro Boy, based on the popular Japanese manga and anime series, Variety reported. The film already features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane and Donald Sutherland. It is due for release in 2009.
7/8/08 - David Bowers, who is directing the upcoming animated feature Astro Boy, said that the appeal of the original manga and comic-book series helped attract big-name actors such as Nicolas Cage to the project. In the new film, Cage provides the voice of Dr. Tenma, a scientist who loses his son and creates a robot, Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore), to replace him. In the original 1950s manga and subsequent 1960s anime TV series, Astro Boy is rejected by his creator and left to fend for himself in the world. Bowers said that his version will be a bit lighter in tone and more forgiving of Dr. Tenma's actions. "We have a slightly more sympathetic look at Dr. Tenma in this movie," he said. "Cage has given a wonderful performance. I think your heart breaks for him. At the same time, there's a lot of comedy in the manga as well. We have Nathan Lane as HamEgg and Bill Nighy playing Dr. Elefun, and he's terrific in it. And we have a lot of new characters as well. We have a lot of very fun robots. I think there's a lot of comedy in the movie. But, again, it's a very emotional story." Astro Boy is set for release in the fall of 2009.
06/16/08 - British actor Freddie Highmore said recently that he will be using an American accent when he voices the title character in the upcoming animated Astro Boy movie, based on the Japanese manga. Astro Boy is currently in preproduction. Highmore said that he has been fascinated by the interest in the movie since he landed the role. "There are stores and all kinds of things centered around him," he said. "He's really big in parts of the world."
01/25/08 - David Bowers has been hired to direct the computer-animated film Astro Boy, based on the Japanese character of the same name. The film, centering around a lonely robot, was adapted from the original Japanese manga and 1960s TV series created by Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy is set for release in 2009.
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