Due to the economic downturn (which is affecting anime production, manga sales, etc.), Astro Boy was almost disentigrated de-activated this week. Actually, production was halted on the Astro Boy computer animated film (Astro Boy is reportedly unhurt ^_^). Animators at Imagi were laid off and the production was permanently closed temporary shutdown.
Imagi Couldn’t Make Payroll So Halts ‘Astro Boy’ & Lays Off 80 Animators
“…realized Friday night that it couldn’t make its Los Angeles payroll, called everyone on Saturday and laid off almost 80 union animators out of the 120 staff in the LA office, and halted production on the upcoming CGI-animated feature film Astro Boy for Summit Entertainment. - Continue reading at DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com
The original news comes via MovieWeb.com:
Imagi U.S. President, Erin Corbett, explains that the company had some issues with funding, and was looking to receive bridge financing to cover a gap between the end of January and the beginning of February. When it looked like that “bridge financing” wasn’t going to materialize, the employees were put on “mandatory unpaid leave.”
“We want to do everything to get Astro Boy out the door,” says Corbett. The animation is apparently about 50 percent rendered and complete, and nearly all of the vocal performances have been recorded. With the money set to arrive in February, completing Astro Boy shouldn’t be a problem. In the meantime, Imagi is still raising money to get Gatchaman into production for a November 2010 release. “We’re trying to do a film every year to 18 months,” Corbett says. – Continue reading at MovieWeb.com
Does anyone want to nominate another anime robot to take Astro Boy’s place?
Hi David:
It looks like the bridge funding came through which will give Imagi enough money to tide them over until the private equity funds arrive on Tuesday, Feb. 3
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999218.html?categoryid=13&cs=1