Comic Book artist and illustrator Ashley Wood has posted some interesting new photos on his blog. Hmm... I wonder what he's up to?
Could this work-in-progress painting have something to do with IDW's upcoming Astro Boy publications? Or is it just for fun? We'll just have to wait and see! Sure looks like an awesome take on Astro though!
Check out Ashley's blog here (possibly NSFW). Individual posts: 1 and 2.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Ashley Wood's Astro
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Rescue of Astro Boy
Forbes Magazine has a new article about Imagi and the upcoming cg Astro Boy movie, focusing on the difficulties the studio has had thanks to the current state of the global economy. Imagi's chief executive Douglas Glen is interviewed in this eye-opening look at the company and the movie buisiness in general.
According to the article, some of the studio's funding fell through and things where looking dim for awhile, but the good news is that they now have the funding they need and Astro Boy will be finished.
The article also has an interesting look at the inner workings of Imagi, both the financial aspect and the office environment. They've got a face-recognition security system! There's a brief history of the company and a little bit about some of their upcoming planned projects too. All in all it's a mostly optimistic look at a company that has faced, and may continue to face, a few bumps in the road.
You can read "The Rescue of Astro Boy" on Forbes.com or read an archived copy right here by clicking the link below.The Rescue Of Astro Boy
Robyn Meredith, 01.14.09, 06:00 PM EST
Forbes Magazine dated February 02, 2009
Amid the financial crisis a Hong Kong animation house with superheroic ambitions gets a reprieve for its exciting project.
Not far from a Hong Kong dock where Chinese cargo exports were feeling the pinch of a world financial crash, another kind of factory was humming. To get there, you must take a skyscraper's elevator to the 23rd floor and get past a locked door guarded by a face-recognition security system. Only then can you enter the darkened room where hundreds of young adults lean close to computer screens, bringing fictional characters to life. They are the 400-strong movie animation staff of Imagi, which aspires to be the DreamWorks of Asia.
One animator used his mouse to wiggle the onscreen nose of a character he's been programming, while next to him someone was tweaking the facial expressions of a robot dog in a movie called Astro Boy.
The staff, dressed mostly in jeans and untucked shirts, their workdays spent creating the imaginary world of Japanese comic book hero Astro, had no clue in mid-November that they were at risk of losing their jobs or that the promising movie they were working on might not make it to the big screen.
Their boss, Douglas Glen, Imagi's chief executive, had just come back from the American Film Market in Los Angeles, which was devastated by the gloom and doom spanning the globe. "If markets don't return to some semblance of normalcy, it is going to be difficult to keep operations going," an ashen-faced Glen told a visitor. Only two months before he had triumphantly secured $30 million in financing for his movie animation company. Then $20 million of it fell through.
Imagi wasn't the only moviemaker in trouble--the whole industry was crippled by the credit crunch. In November at the Film Market "it was absolutely bleak," says D. Jeffrey Andrick, managing director of Continental Entertainment Capital, a Beverly Hills company that serves as a merchant banker specializing in the movie industry. Continental brought to Citigroup The Spirit, the $50 million-plus Frank Miller film that opened on Christmas Day. "It may have been the worst environment I've seen at the American Film Market."
Indeed, Continental had a capital partnership with Citi, and after the subprime crisis Citi pulled out. Other banks, along with hedge funds and institutional investors, have dramatically dialed back their recent freewheeling backing for moviemaking, Andrick says.
But just like the animated hero of Astro Boy, Imagi has proved a survivor. In December it was promised $20 million in replacement financing, allowing the movie to go forward and the Hong Kong animators to keep their jobs. "At the last second we got untied from the railroad tracks," Glen says. "It's a little cinematic."
The substitute funding was arranged by Chicago private equity firm Prescient Advisors.
Imagi's first big hit came in 2007 with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie animation that grossed $100 million. Astro Boy, with a $65 million budget, is supposed to be released later this year in the U.S. on Oct. 23 and in Japan over the Christmas holidays. It is a classic Japanese comic book story of a robot designer in a world of the future who, heartbroken after the death of his son, builds an android to replace him. After Astro Boy's "father" rejects him, he sets off on a journey of adventure and redemption. "It's got a lot of promise," says Andrick, who's not an investor but saw clips of Astro Boy at the Film Market. It has a built-in fan base of those who remember the comic book--not just in Japan but also around the world. In the U.S. Astro Boy was the top children's syndicated TV show for three years during the 1970s.
People used to say the film industry was recession-proof. In the Great Depression even out-of-work people would scare up a quarter to see a matinee starring a tuxedo-clad Cary Grant or Fred Astaire acting out some fantasy. In this recession the demand is still there--but not the financing. "There was a great outpouring of funds available, and there's now a great shortage," says Jonathan Dolgen, former head of the Viacom Entertainment Group and its Paramount Pictures unit. He is now a principal of Wood River Ventures, a new firm that focuses primarily on media investments. "That's going to result in fewer films being made."
DreamWorks itself has run into trouble. After it assembled a $1.2 billion debt and equity deal in late September to split from Paramount, the equity piece, from India's Reliance Group, came through. The debt portion, which was to be syndicated by jpmorgan Chase, has run into delays.
While DreamWorks has Steven Spielberg, Imagi got into the movie animation business only after it got out of the business of making artificial Christmas trees in Chinese factories. Francis Kao, 32, urged his father, Michael Kao, to sell the manufacturing business and seek higher service-industry margins. The founder sold the tree business to the Carlyle Group and later retired, handing the company reins to his son, who is now Imagi's chairman and chief creative officer. The Kao family retains more than a third of the company, while another large backer is Hong Kong's Winnington Capital, with more than 20% of the company.
Imagi gradually built up a stable of computer graphics specialists and expanded into TV production work; it moved on to animate DreamWorks' Father of the Pride TV series on NBC in 2003. After the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit, with a big-screen gross more than twice the production cost, Imagi hired two executives from DreamWorks, Kenneth Tsumura and Timothy Cheung (the animator who brought Shrek to life), and brought them to Hong Kong to train a generation of animators in computer graphics. Imagi now has three films in production: Astro Boy, then the sci-fi ninja story of Gatchaman, planned for the fall of 2010, followed by Tusker, which will be reminiscent of Disney's Lion King, scheduled for the summer of 2011. "They are all heroes' journeys," says Glen, a former Mattel and Sega executive. They teach lessons gently, "like Flintstones vitamins--you make sure you package it in a way that's attractive to kids, but they're good for you."
What's attractive to investors--at least in normal times--is that Hong Kong is much cheaper than Hollywood for creating computer animation. Of course there are cheaper places: China, Malaysia, the Philippines and India. But lower costs are just part of the story, Glen says: "What makes Imagi magical is the combination of the story development in Los Angeles" with 120 employees there, "combined with the skills in turning those designs into pixels on the screen that you've got here in Hong Kong." That kind of globalization may enable this outfit to survive what is shaping up to be a nasty economic storm.
Friday, January 9, 2009
TETSUJIN 28 CG ANIMATED MOVIE?
We all know that Imagi has it's Astro Boy animated movie set for release later this year, as well as Gatchaman in the works, but it's looks like it's possible that one more classic anime franchise might be making the Computer Generated leap to the big screen thanks to those talented artists and animators in Hong Kong. And if you've been reading Felix Ip's blog lately, you know that something big is brewing!
Tetsujin 28, the classic franchise sometimes known internationally as Gigantor, could very well be one of the next animated feature films produced by Imagi!
Created in 1956 as a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama (who also created "Giant Robo"), Tetsujin 28 is very first giant robot story. It has spawned multiple anime adaptations and a recent live action movie. This is legendary character who absolutely deserves a well done animated feature meant for audiences around the world.
To announce this potential project, Imagi has just unveiled a very elaborate website for the movie, complete with a teaser trailer. This animation is likely made just to drum up interest in the project and may or may not represent what the film winds up being like. Obviously the main character's appearance has been updated, but the robots have got that awesome retro look you would hope for. The website has story information and wallpapers, with concept art and more on the way. Pretty impressive for a movie that isn't even officially coming out yet! Looks like they are simply going with "T28" as the name of the film.
At the end of the teaser, there is a chance for you to say if you would like to see Tetsujin made as a movie by Imagi, and to write some comments. It is pretty much unprecedented for a film production to be this open to the potential audience at this point, so be sure to tell them what you think!
This is quite an interesting development because Astro Boy and Tetsujin 28 are products of about the same time, and are in some ways rival characters. I think it's so cool that classic anime characters like these are getting the chance to show how great they are to a whole new global audience, thanks to the same animation studio. Let's hope that the T28 film gets off the ground!
Astro Footage at New York Comic Con
Those of you planning on attending the New York Comic Con this year are in for a treat!
Summit Entertainment will be holding an exclusive presentation where, for the first time ever, footage from the Imagi's upcoming CG animated Astro Boy movie will be screened! The presentation takes place at the IGN Theater on Sunday, Feburary 8th, from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
If anyone reading is planning on attending and can perhaps do some reporting on the presentation, please contact me!
Source: Anime News Network & MediumAtLarge
Speed Dubbing
Sci-Fi Japan has got a great interview with anime legend Peter Fernandez, who is of course well known for his writing, directing, and dubbing work on the English version of Speed Racer. Before Speed Racer came alog, Peter wrote English scripts for the 1960's version of Astro Boy, and as he explains in this interview, was paid only $100 an episode for the work!
It's a fantastic interview that provides a great look at those early days of dubbing some cool classic shows. Check it out right here!
And while you're at it, take a look at Peter's MySpace page too!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Extreme Makeover
For those of you currious how Imagi has changed Astro's appearance for the upcoming CG animated Astro Boy movie now that we've gotten a good look at him, this is for you.
The Star Online out of Malaysia has a great new article about the film, where Imagi's Ken Tsumura (Executive Vice President) and Tim Cheung (Vice President of Animation) talk the ways in which Astro's classic character design has been tweaked and updated, but how much of it has, at the request of the Tezuka estate, been retained. In particular, the size of Astro's... erm... bottom.
One thing that this article mentions is that Astro now looks more Caucasian, and that with was an unintentional result of Imagi updating the character. I disagree that he looks more Caucasian. I think he still retains the iconic, borderless look of Tezuka's artwork. There is nothing about Astro as Tezuka drew him that would suggest that he must originate from any particular part of the world. Imagi's animated Astro is a little different than Tezuka's manga Astro, but I still identify him as Astro more than anything else, and not as a Caucasian Astro.
You can read "Astro Boy’s makeover" on The Star Online or click the link below to read an archived version right here. Also check out their "What’s getting made" article for more about upcoming anime movies. Sunday January 4, 2009
Astro Boy’s makeover
By SHERWIN LOH
For the upcoming animated flick, the manga hero is unwittingly made to look more Caucasian.
WHEN they saw the initial designs for Astro Boy in the upcoming computer animated flick, the one thing that the Japanese owners did not fancy was the size of his rear end.
They found it too small.
Recalled Ken Tsumura, executive vice president of Imagi Animation, the Hong Kong company behind the project: “We had discussions of how round and curvy his body proportions are and we designed him more lean.”
Ken Tsumura, Executive Vice President, and Tim Cheung, Vice President of Animation at Imagi, the guys behind the upcoming Astro Boy animated film.
But this did not gel with the estate of Astro Boy’s creator, Tezuka Osamu, who wanted to keep some of the more recognisable aspects of the character.
Tim Cheung, Imagi’s vice president of animation, added: “By request, we needed to have a fuller rear and we added a control where we could control the size of his bum.”
Both men were in town for the recent Siggraph Asia 2008 computer graphics exhibition and conference, where they revealed that half of the animation work for the film, slated for release in October next year, has been completed.
In the 1952 manga, Astro is the creation of Dr Tenma as a replacement for his son who died in an accident. With his android powers and skills, Astro starts fighting crime and injustice.
Since then, Astro has become one of the more popular faces of Japanese culture. The hotly anticipated movie will have Nicolas Cage voicing Dr Tenma and British child actor Freddie Highmore of The Spiderwick Chronicles fame will voice Astro Boy.
Both Tsumura and Cheung admit that when a much beloved manga character makes a leap from 2D to 3D, some changes had to be made.
One of the more challenging aspects, aside from designing Astro’s larger head and arms with respect to his supporting characters, was revamping his kawaii portrayal, said the film designers.
Kawaii is the Japanese term for cute-looking and Astro, in his black spandex and red rocket boots, epitomises that quality.
“He has really big eyes and curly lashes and we had to make him less feminine in some way,” explained Mr Cheung.
That the beloved Japanese icon now looks more Caucasian was never intentional. It was a byproduct of ageing him and tweaking his looks.
Luckily, the Japanese team was open to some of the changes and the updated Astro Boy is now 12 years old, compared to the estimated six from the manga, and sports a shirt instead of being half naked.
Despite the effort to make the character friendlier to a Western audience, certain aspects of the original series, such as its themes of abandonment and acceptance, will remain.
“There are parts where it looks a bit heavier than what animated features deal with, but I think that was an important part of the Astro Boy story that needed to be told,” said Tsumura, who declined to reveal plot details for the film.
Imagi is also making a special 3D version of the movie for the Japanese market.
After Astro Boy is done, Imagi will be updating another Japanese icon, Gatchaman, also known as Battle of the Planets in the West. Since it is not as well known as Astro Boy, the project, about five super-powered teens fighting monsters, is open to interpretation.
Revealed Cheung, “We’re kind of making up our own version based on the original 1970s cartoon.” – The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network
Friday, January 2, 2009
New CG Astro Pics!
Happy new year everyone! Let's kick off 2009 right!
Twitch has got some brand new images of the upcoming CG Animated Astro Boy movie by Imagi , and they look great! There are some general marketing images of Astro and what looks to be some concept art of characters and sequences that will be featured in the film.
Check out our boy, looking sharp and dressed for success!
There's some artwork of a trashcan/dog robot and a mysterious girl character. Could this girl be the movie's version of the character Cathy, who Astro meets while performing at the circus? Or if it some other new character?
See all the pictures for yourself right here. Big time thanks to Twitch for bringing us the pics, and to Wolf from the Astroboy Online forums.
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