Imagi Halts Astro Boy Production
Animation Studio Adapting Osamu Tezuka's Classic Manga
Jan 28, 2009
Imagi Animation has temporarily halted production on its CGI animated film Astro Boy, due to problems getting financing.
"(It) appears that Imagi, maker of Astro Boy and Gatchaman, may currently be out of cash and temporarily shutting down operations," The Animation Guild president Kevin Koch reported on his blog. "We've heard from one of Imagi's Los Angeles animators that he was called at home on Saturday, Jan. 24, and told that the studio was out of cash, and that he should not report to work on Monday."
Imagi president Erin Corbett confirmed to io9.com that Imagi animators were asked not to come into work this week, due to cash flow problems and the fact that the studio's Hong Kong facilities were taking the week off to celebrate the Chinese New Year. However, Corbett emphasized that this layoff is only temporary and that production will resume after new financing kicks in on February 3rd.
Corbett said, according to io9.com, "The film is entirely storyboarded and planned out The animation is about 50 percent rendered and completed at this point, and almost all of the film's vocal talent has already been recorded."
Imagi Having Credit Problems Making Astro Boy, Gatchaman
This latest news merely highlights how Imagi has been reeling from continued cash flow problems relating to the worldwide credit crisis. On January 14th, Forbes ran an article detailing how the crisis has wreaked havoc.
"Their boss, Douglas Glen, Imagi's chief executive, had just come back from the American Film Market in Los Angeles, which was devastated by the gloom and doom spanning the globe," wrote Robyn Meredith.
"'If markets don't return to some semblance of normalcy, it is going to be difficult to keep operations going,' an ashen-faced Glen told a visitor. Only two months before he had triumphantly secured $30 million in financing . . . Then $20 million of it fell through."
This loss, partially overcome by funding from private investors, was what hurt the company.
"We had this money secured in the late fall," Corbett told io9.com. "We had bridge money to take us through February, when we knew that bridge money was not going to [materialize]... we could not have people come in and not be sure [we'd be able to pay them.]"
In late December, the auditing firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu announced that "it is uncertain whether the group will have the necessary financial resources to complete" Astro Boy and the other films on its schedule.
"At 30 September 2008, the group had bank and cash balances of approximately HK$88.9 million ($11.5 million) while it is expected to incur approximately HK$512 million ($66 million) cash outlay to complete its animation pictures and to meet its daily operating expenses in coming years up to June 2010 (of which approximately HK$353 million [$45.6 million] is required within the next 12 months) before revenue from the animation pictures is generated," a report said.
"The directors are actively pursuing various funding sources to meet the group's cash flow requirements . . . However, it is uncertain whether these fund raising exercises will be successful. Consequently, in the absence of evidence that the group will be successful in raising the necessary funding as and when it is required, we consider that there is a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to operate as a going concern . . . "
Nevertheless, The Animation Guild isn't ready to write off Imagi just yet.
"We've been informed by a company top-kick that the company hopes to make good on all financial obligations to staff, and that Imagi corporate should have word about restarting production by Tuesday next," said TAG business rep Steve Hulett.
"Understand that there are no guarantees of a restart by early next week, but the fact that Imagi believes it's doable and possible is a hopeful sign.
"Me, I'm going to assume Imagi finds the financing to keep the machinery operating," Hulett continued, "because from the looks of it, they have some nice product in the pipeline. And it would be a shame if that pipeline were to, like, clog up."
Gatchaman: Not Coming in 2009
The credit crunch has also affected Imagi's other big screen anime adaptation, Tatsunoko Production's Gatchaman. Gatchaman was supposed to be Imagi's follow-up to their 2007 hit TMNT, but production hit a snag, and the film was then shifted to February of 2009.
Kevin Munroe (TMNT) was initially tapped to direct the film, from a script by Robert Mark Kamen (Karate Kid, The Fifth Element) and Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Lost). Munroe has since left the project, and Imagi, and the company's creative director Felix Ip admitted that "Gatchaman will not come in 2009." The film is now tentatively scheduled for a 2010 release.
The studio also has Tusker – an anime take on Disney's The Lion King – and Cat Tale on their schedule. However, it's questionable if Imagi can keep its production pipeline going without any money to grease the wheels.
But Imagi isn't the only film studio having difficulties.
"(It) was absolutely bleak," D. Jeffrey Andrick, managing director of Continental Entertainment Capital – a Beverly Hills-based merchant banker specializing in the movie industry – told Forbes about the November Film Market convention. "It may have been the worst environment I've seen at the American Film Market."
Film has always been seen as a "recession-proof" investment, since Hollywood was one of the few industries that did well during the Great Depression. However, this credit crisis has highlighted the flaw in this belief. The entertainment industry has always been seen as a gamble and, due to the current financial instability, there are fewer investors willing to risk their cash.
Astro Boy is scheduled for an October 23rd release.
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