Nicolas Cage’s sci-fi flop that bankrupted a studio

Osamu Tezuka reshaped Japanese pop culture with his manga “Astro Boy.” In a future world, Japanese Science Minister Dr. Tenma kills his son Tobio in a car accident. He creates Tobio as an android, Astro (known as Atom in the original Japanese). The manga is a futuristic reimagining of “Pinocchio” that becomes a superhero story.

You can trace Japan’s love affair with robots to Astro Boy – modern mecha and shonen manga/anime wouldn’t exist without it. Although Astro Boy is a pioneer in Japan, he’s not a big icon in the US. An attempt to import him, a 2009 CGI-animated “Astro Boy” picture from Imagi Animation Studios, failed, leaving Imagi underwater.

Imagi was founded in Hong Kong in 2000 and first produced the CGI animated series Zentrix in 2002. In 2007, they secured a three-film distribution deal with Warner Bros. The first product of that deal was the 2007 animated film “TMNT.” “TMNT” was a success, so Imagi moved on to picture no. 2: “Astro Boy.”

The film was directed by David Bowers, co-director of the Dreamworks Claymation film “Flushed Away,” which is not one of that studio’s best films anyway. (Since “Astro Boy” failed, Bowers has only directed live-action films like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”) The overqualified voice cast includes Freddie Highmore, Bill Nighy, the late Donald Sutherland and Nicolas Cage as Dr . Tenma.

“Astro Boy” is said to have cost $65 million, but only grossed $42 million at the box office when it premiered in October 2009. Imagi filed for bankruptcy in February 2010. Does “Astro Boy” deserve a second chance? Is it a forgotten masterpiece awaiting reappraisal? No, the audience was right on the first call.

2009’s “Astro Boy” makes sweeping changes to the source material, likely in the name of a more “universal” film. The character names are Americanized; Tobio becomes Toby and Umataro becomes Tenma The invoice Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu becomes Dr. Elefun. The setting also changes from 21st century Japan to a post-apocalyptic future where the rich live in the floating “Metro City” above the polluted surface. (This all feels more like “WALL-E” and “Battle Angel Alita” than “Astro Boy.”)

The script draws on broad archetypes of children’s films, and like Imagi’s other films, the CGI is drab and primitive. (The feel of “Astro Boy” is comparable to “Toy Story,” a film fourteen years older.) The flat animation dilutes Tezuka’s distinctive character designs; Compare “Astro Boy” to the underrated 2001 anime film “Metropolis,” which stunningly brought its world into 2D animation.

“Astro Boy” has a truly rare feature – a performance summoned by Nicolas Cage. This man delivered some of the rawest portrayals of grief on screen I’ve ever seen in Mandy and Pig. As Tenma, he just goes through the motions.

As far as reimagining the mighty atom goes, Imagi’s “Astro Boy” is essentially no “Pluto.” Drawn by Naoki Urasawa, “Pluto” retold the “Astro Boy” arc “The World’s Greatest Robot” as a cyber-noir detective story – read my review of “Pluto” here. (And yes, the Dr. Tenma in Urasawa’s horror-thriller manga “Monster” is named after the one in “Astro Boy.”)

Due to the failure of Astro Boy, Imagi’s plans for further manga/anime adaptations for the big screen remained unrealized. We should probably be grateful that they were.

“Astro Boy” has an open ending: Astro flies off to face an alien monster that came out of nowhere to attack Metro City. Obviously no sequel followed, but the film ends with room for more. While Astro Boy was in production, Imagi already had the next two films in the works. One of them would be “Gatchaman,” an adaptation of the 1970s anime about a five-person “science ninja” superhero team. (“Gatchaman” is the original “Super Sentai,” also known as the original Japanese version of the series that Americans know as “Power Rangers.”) Imagi’s “Gatchaman” was so advanced that a two-minute teaser could be released ( see below). However, when the studio collapsed, so did the film.

Imagi also planned “T28,” an adaptation of the other OG Japanese robot franchise: Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s manga “Tetsujin-28” about a scientist’s son who wields a remote-controlled robot. (The series was released in the US as “Gigantor.”) Like “Gatchaman,” “T28” only had a teaser.

Former Imagi animator Mak Ching Lok’s demo reel also hints that the studio may have wanted to adapt Trigun, Yasuhiro Nightow’s space western manga/anime. The reel contains an unfinished and uncolored segment of “Trigun” hero Vash The Stampede strolling to a bar and asking for a drink refill. No further details have been revealed about a possible Trigun film from Imagi.

In 2023, Studio Orange produced a new “Trigun” anime – “Trigun: Stampede” – depicting Nightow’s world with 3D CGI animation. This alone put Imagi ahead of its time. That wasn’t the case with “Astro Boy.”