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Article: Astro Boy preps for takeoff in U.S. Film, TV series in works for Japanese hero.(News)
- Article from:
- Advertising Age
- Article date:
- April 7, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: CAMPBELL GRAY
[Tokyo] Sony Pictures Entertainment is betting that Astro Boy, an animated boy-robot superhero, will be Japan's next big cultural export, following the trajectory of Pokemon and Power Rangers.
A feature film and anime TV series to run around the world are both in the works, and Sega expects to launch a DVD game featuring Astro Boy before Christmas in Japan, the U.S. and other international markets. The hype all starts with a marketing splash that coincides with Astro Boy's ``birthday'' today.
Half-machine and half-boy, Astro Boy was created by cartoon legend Osamu Tezuka in 1951 but set in a 21st century future that started ...