Imagi US shuts down

[JumpJump]

http://www.cghub.com/blog/view/imagi-shuts-down-us-studio/

I don't know if you've seen. It's pretty sad!

I know the movie might not have been the best by any means, but it always makes me sad to see something like this happen with animation. A lot of time and effort is put into making an animated film. A lot. It's never easy.

I guess the US studio was in charge of story, for the most part. The studio in Hong Kong took care of the animation.

I hope the studio keeps going strong in Hong Kong, though. (: I've heard that Hong Kong is booming in the animation industry these days.

[Nora]

Sadness in a bottle. *Nods.*

[cybotron]

[Laughing Dragon]

http://www.cghub.com/blog/view/imagi-shuts-down-us-studio/

I don't know if you've seen. It's pretty sad!

I know the movie might not have been the best by any means, but it always makes me sad to see something like this happen with animation. A lot of time and effort is put into making an animated film. A lot. It's never easy.

I guess the US studio was in charge of story, for the most part. The studio in Hong Kong took care of the animation.

I hope the studio keeps going strong in Hong Kong, though. (: I've heard that Hong Kong is booming in the animation industry these days.

Just to put things in perspective, a lot of studios lay off animators between projects. Disney, especially, is notorious for that. If Imagi can get enough financing to finish Gatchaman, it'll undoubtedly hire artists back and maybe re-open the American office.

The movie WAS the best IMO. Trouble is, a lot of moviegoers either made assumptions (oh no, a CGI remake of a classic character that'll rape my childhood! :rolleyes or they assumed that the movie was just for little kids. And the assumptions were helped along by the fact that Summit did a piss-poor job of advertising the film. It's famous for that. Remember that another film it was handling, The Hurt Locker, has been winning nominations and awards for Best Picture, yet it too was a flop at the box office. I remember seeing trailers for that, and yet I had no idea what the heck it was about.

I've been lurking at sites like Twitter, and from the posts there, it's clear that nearly every person that does give the film a chance loves it. It's really boosted my spirits to see that. Astro Boy is a real crowd-pleaser, and I think it's on track to become a cult favorite, at least. Keep the faith. I'm still hoping for a sequel.

[Hikari Tail]

So...this means a part 2 movie is out of the question, or maybe if we get lucky Hong Kong might get intrested in Astroboy in a new film or animation series, but that's not likely there always have to be a 20+ years apart from each Astro Boy series.

[MegaAstroFan75]

Just because Imagi US shut down doesn't necessarily mean the Astro Boy films are done. As long as the main company persists it's fine. Plus Astro Boy's more popular in East Asia. And as said they handled the animation, so a temporary US branch can still be set up for a next movie.

Though honestly I'm not really sure what's next for Astro Boy. It'd be nice to see some modern manga for him.

[Nora]

So...this means a part 2 movie is out of the question, or maybe if we get lucky Hong Kong might get intrested in Astroboy in a new film or animation series, but that's not likely there always have to be a 20+ years apart from each Astro Boy series.

No not at all. As a matter of fact this puts Japan's Imagi into full ownership of the movie. Might mean if there is a part 2 (Not saying there will be) it might have a better story line. (Not saying I didn't like the movie I loved it *Cuddles it*) No one knows Astro Boy better then who made it so perfect in the first place. (Not saying Americans' are terrible script writers.) Lets not forget how much money Astro Boy movie forked in for its first week of sales in Japan next to America. In retrospect I think it now has better chances of a sequel then it did with the American Imagi still in function.

[jeffbert]

I doubt they will ever make another Astroboy movie w/o collaboration, $, and, unfortunately, ideas from the USA. The very fact that such was the case with this film, suggests as much. If they could have done it alone, and then, exported it, why would they have done otherwise?

[dannavy85]

That is a little depressive but given the ecoonomy right now it might be a good idea to protect the company.

[Nora]

I doubt they will ever make another Astroboy movie w/o collaboration, $, and, unfortunately, ideas from the USA. The very fact that such was the case with this film, suggests as much. If they could have done it alone, and then, exported it, why would they have done otherwise?

cause they still have tons of astro boy movies out there that still haven't been released to the US. Not like some of us wouldn't mind seeing some of those movies dubbed. It would sell in my store!!! (The one I shop in to get my astro boy stuffs)