It was over one year ago when the possibility of a Pluto movie was last brought up. But now it seems that the project has gotten some major forward momentum, as the rights to Pluto have been purchased by Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures.
It is planed to be a live action/CG hybrid film. Chris Meledandri of Illumination Entertainment had this to say:
"With Pluto, Naoki Urasawa has defined an imaginative world full of inventive action and adventure but it was his characters and heartfelt story that compelled me towards acquiring these rights."You can read more about the announcement on Deadline.com and on Anime News Network.
Now, before everyone gets too excited, does this mean that a Pluto movie is 100% being made? Not necessarily. It just means that there is an intention to make a Pluto movie, and a studio now has the rights to make it. Whether it actually materializes is another matter, but there is at least a chance. Let's hope that a faithful adaptation of this incredible version of the Astro Boy mythos will find its way to the silver screen in the future!
You can buy all 8 volumes of Pluto here and help support AstroBoyWorld in the process.
UPDATE: Read the official press release here.
7 comments:
Well, I'm psyched to be getting some news on this so soon.
Now on one hand I'm glad it'll be a studio who's made successes and critically acclaimed films. On the other hand... That Chris Meledandri guy has only been working into family films since 1994, and it doesn't seem to be changing. And his mature films were all mediocre if you look up on IMDb. I think we should be expecting something quite different from the manga to say the least. Unless the studio actually goes into a new direction at that point to prove how diversifying it can be.
I hope that when the movie comes out there will be a Direct-to-video Astro Boy sequel based on the World's Strongest Robot storyline. With Pluto in it as well.
Considering the grip Tezuka Productions held on production of the first movie, I'm sure they wouldn't even allow a direct-to-video sequel, except maybe if they could make it themselves.
Direct-to-video sequels only use the first movie's fanbase of young children in order to sell. Since it can't make as much money as a theater movie, they keep the budget low and don't put any effort into it. I literally can't think of a single direct-to-video sequel of an animated film that has ever been good. Toy Story 2 was supposed to be direct-to-video, and it was terrible. So Pixar changed their plans and made a success.
Frankly, I think this live-action Pluto project is the best thing we could hope for outside of an actual Astro anime movie.
I have to admit i'm not much of a Pluto fan, but the story does capturivate me. If this movie does happen then i'd sure like to watch it. Nice to see Astro boy go live action and hopefully a second chance on the silver screen =3
If it ever gets overseas, I wonder if they'll dub over in english o.o
Actually, I imagine it will be produced in English from the get-go. This is not going to be a Japanese movie.
Sayonara.
And English actually makes sense story-wise considering the international murder case nature of the story.
However I can't help feeling that every character is going to be American. And there won't be any murder (just destroyed robots). Just some early fears, don't mind me...
I have to wonder why they specially label it as a live-action/CG hybrid though. I'm guessing they mean like Transformers, but even that is usually just considered "live-action with special effects". I guess we'll have to see Illumination's next feature "Hop" to get a clearer idea.
Also, assuming this movie isn't prioritized more than the studio's other planned movies, we can expect maybe a 2017 release.
They let me make the announcement on our local radio show this week. X3
Post a Comment