Astro Boy's Imagi In Trouble

More economic meltdowns may derail some coming attractions -- the latest rumored disaster to hit the rumor mill... Astro Boy.

Right off the heels of problematic productions Watchmen and Wolverine, FirstShowing.net is reporting a rumor that “Astro Boy,” the CGI feature film based on Osamu Tezuka’s anime classic, is joining the list of troubled properties.

According to the report, the animation studio behind “Astro Boy,” Imagi International, is out of money and may be shutting down operations indefinitely, adding that employees were recently told not to show up to the office at the start of the work week.

As always, "unnamed sources" must be taken with a grain or more of salt, but expect an official word from Imagi to be released soon.

ComicBookMovie
1/26/2009

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24 Comments

	HOLY SKIDADLING SHIT!!! That would totally suck because i found the trailer was KICK ASS!!! I soooo hope it comes out! Shaman - 1/26/2009, 2:03 PM
	I wasn't planning on watching Astro Boy, but the fact alone that the studio is out of money scares me for future movies to come...cross them fingers that this doesn't spread to other films. davidzuck - 1/26/2009, 2:07 PM
	Yeah, like Marvel's! Shaman - 1/26/2009, 2:14 PM
	Astro Boy looks fun from what I've seen by the trailers. I hope this is just pissing in the wind and we do get to see this come out. Or if they really are out of cash, that someone swoops in and gives them more to finish it. WeaponX - 1/26/2009, 2:19 PM
	Seriously! When i heard they were makin the movie i was like "whatever" but when i saw how good that trailer seemed, damn i got excited fast! It looked just as cool and well made as BOLT! So i really hope that they get the money some...WAY, some...HOW!!! (a la shatner LOL) Shaman - 1/26/2009, 2:42 PM
	Wont it come out anyway?? An if not them, some other company ?? LEEE777 - 1/26/2009, 3:07 PM
	I read somewhere that Astroboy should have no problem, the problems are with the coming movies Gatchaman and I think two more projects they had in production. If that is correct, then astroboy would be in theaters in october. NoobMike - 1/26/2009, 3:17 PM
	Ok time out.....so the company put all there money into this movie, or did they just meet there budget????? bigdez - 1/26/2009, 3:33 PM
	I wasn't impressed by the voice cast list for Astro Boy. Looked like it was going for prestige over ability - there are many talented voice actors around and they seemed to get snubbed for people who are paid to act as themselves. cynicism aside, this film probably will get released, it should be past the point of no return by now shouldn't it? SoulAllFlush - 1/26/2009, 3:37 PM
	So I just looked up the trailer... this looks like a kickass animated movie. I remember when issue #1 of this came out, a buddy of mine got like a dozen copies of it while I was sure it would suck. Wait, I may be confusing it with Astro City. Which one did Alex Ross do the art for the first issue? TheMyth - 1/26/2009, 4:49 PM
	man.... I really hate ignorant posts, you have access to the internet... do a search on wikipedia or google before you start talking about things you don't know anything about. Astroboy is the creation of Osamu Tezuka, most people refer to him as Japan's Walt Disney (I really think that actually belittles his achievements, after all he was a doctor and most of his creations were done after he was 50 years old). He practically started the animation industry in Japan, Kimba the White Lion, Astroboy, Black Jack, Metropolis, etc. are all his creations. Astro City was written by Kurt Busiek, and it centered around the people that lived in that city, Alex Ross did many covers for that comic. Astroboy is about a robot with the body of a child and human feelings. Oh and davidzuck, I wouldn't worry too much yet, Imagi is a Hong Kong based studio doing animation. Competing with Pixar, Dreamworks, Walt Disney must be really hard for a starting studio to compete. Imagi has released two movies TMNT and Highlander (both animated and targeted at a very specific audience), so although it is a red flag for the industry's health, I'd consider it an isolated event. If news from the big studios or even form Lionsgate (a US based studio which rumors say that their future is riding on My Bloody Valentine to be a hit) start pouring about closing departments, closing studios, cutting jobs, etc. That would be something to worry about NoobMike - 1/26/2009, 5:00 PM
	Man this bites TheSoulEater - 1/26/2009, 6:44 PM
	Damn NOOBMIKE, THEMYTH just asked a question. Remember, there are no stupid questions, just stupid (and sanctimonious) answers. ;-) THEMYTH- Alex Ross did the cover art for Astro City, not Astro Boy. Talontd - 1/26/2009, 9:26 PM
	this really sucks. i was looking forward to a tmnt 5 grif - 1/26/2009, 11:55 PM
	Guys, if this movie gets released, don't worry, they'll definitely get enough money to stay in the game and maybe bring us another TMNT! Astro boy was one of my favorite shows when i was a kid, i was sooo happy to be able to see it when we didn't have cable. And i was hesitant when i heard they were making a movie but when i saw that it looked like BOLT but was very accurate with the original work, it really did it for me! Every kid will want to go see it and every fan of the show will wanna see it. Which means mega money to them! All they have to do is realease it :)) Thank you very much for your info Noob and don't worry Myth, you know so much about comics, you can't possibly know everything there is. We learn something new everyday :) Shaman - 1/27/2009, 7:08 AM
	The problem Shaman, is that this movie will get released in october, that's a lot of bills to pay from now until they finally release it. Add the fact that most banks aren't giving credit to healthy companies let alone one that's next to bankrupt, I mean I'd love for Imagi to continue to exist. I love animated movies and I rarely care where they are from, and the more studios are making them, the more animation I get to see. But I see Imagi's situation to be extremely bad. And yes I will give sanctimonious answers when anyone confuses Astrocity with Astroboy NoobMike - 1/27/2009, 7:52 AM
	LOL, good enough Noob, and yeah...october will be a problem. Hopefully the triads can help them out a bit LOL :P Shaman - 1/27/2009, 9:46 AM
	Im guessing they had most of their money invested in stocks that plumeted and the rest of it in maddoff investments. It's either that or the execs started buying ferraris, way too early. Oh and keep in mind that even if it is released in october, they need money to advertise and in the best of scenarios the revenues would come one month after the release (it would probably take more). As I said, it looks bleak for Imagi although I do hope they manage to get an investor to help them _8unless of course it's because of the exec's ferrari's, then it has to go broke and the animation people start a new company). NoobMike - 1/27/2009, 3:57 PM
	Tmnt 5 would be dope I heard they wanted like half live action half cgi or w/e but not puppets or costumes because that'd be too 90's hah. Oh and astro boy is tight too haha SdProphet - 1/28/2009, 4:37 AM
	Well Noob, maybe Ferrari themselves could sponsor them :)) Shaman - 1/28/2009, 8:08 AM
	The saddest part is I read they need just 66 million dollars to stay afloat, if I had that money I would help them, but in a corporate movie world 66 million dollars doesn't seem to be much. Maybe Pixar would buy them and have them make their teen oriented animated films. NoobMike - 1/29/2009, 2:36 PM
	Yeah, actually PIXAR should be them out and keep them running. Both of them have great projects and talent that are geared towards different audiences. I think that they could make a great team :)) Shaman - 1/30/2009, 10:02 AM
	damn, apparently they did stop production on Astroboy.... they are waiting for 20 million dollars to come through, and the article says they have just 50% of it done. check it out at AnimeNewsNetwork NoobMike - 1/30/2009, 12:07 PM
	Well dude, i really hope they pull through that and make enough money to at least make my damn Gatchaman movie i've been waiting for!!! Shaman - 1/30/2009, 12:12 PM

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