Astro Boy, also called Atom in Japan, is a 2009 computer-animated 3-D film based on the highly successful Japanese franchise of the same name by Osamu Tezuka. It is being produced by Imagi Animation Studios, the animation production company of TMNT. The studio announced the project in September 2006. It will be directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away) and produced by Maryann Garger with Pilar Flynn as associate producer. It has been announced that Freddie Highmore will provide the voice for the character of Astro Boy in the movie. The film features the voices of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, Matt Lucas, Bill Nighy, Donald Sutherland and Nicolas Cage. A short trailer of the movie was shown in the North American Home Theater of PlayStation Home from December 28, 2008 to January 8, 2009. The movie was released first in Japan on October 10, 2009, prior to the US release on October 23, 2009.

An origin story set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot (Freddie Highmore) with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist, Dr. Tenma (Nicolas Cage), in the image of the son he had lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, becoming part of a group of rowdy kids led by a girl named Cora (Kristen Bell), experiencing betrayal, and a netherworld of robot gladiators led by the greedy ring master, Ham Egg (Nathan Lane), before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.


More Information at www.astroboy-themovie.com. Image and Video Courtesy of Summit Entertainment LLC