Imagi animation studio has set their sights next on the Japanese superhero "Gatchaman." Director Kevin Munroe will get to work on it as his next film.
"How I juggle is I take a laptop with me to color timing," said Munroe. "We’re in the middle of the script and we’re doing preproduction on Gatchaman. And it looks like it comes from the same people that brought you this but now are doing this and the whole point of it is to up the bar."
Producer Thomas Gray revealed that the company has a particular attachment to the Japanese superhero genre. "Our whole reason now too is expressed in superhero," said Gray. "Most of the Japanese inspired ones, which our owner, Francis Kao was the one that said, ‘I don’t want to do happy talking animals anymore. I want to do what I remember as a kid growing up in Asia, that it was Gatchaman and it was Astroboy and that’s what I want to make.’ And we’ve acquired those rights."
Astroboy may be a ways off, but with Gatchaman coming up, the company is aiming to make more animated films for teens and adults. "It’s a PG-13," said Munroe. "It’s just fun. It’s a different movie completely so it’s kind of fun although it has teenagers and ninjas. Other than that, it’s completely different."
Gray even considers raising the bar into more dangerous marketing territory. "This is one we’re going PG-13 definitely. We put it on the pants on this one. This is going to be a very interesting film and even maybe pushing R."
