AceShowbiz -

The new "Astro Boy (2017)" film has made significant developments since it was announced earlier this month. Warner Bros.' division New Line is close to acquiring the live-action movie's rights and has hired a writing duo to pen the script.

Hailing from manga and anime, "Astro Boy" tells the story of a robot kid created by a scientist named Dr. Tenma as replacement of his dead son. He eventually gave the robot away. With a new owner, Astro fights evil intentions using his superpower.

Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore who wrote disaster movie "San Andreas" are locked to write the screenplay. THR also reported that Animal Logic Entertainment, Ranger 7 Films and Japanese firm Tezuka Productions would produce the feature.

There had been many attempts to bring Astro Boy to Hollywood screen but the 2009 animation from Imagi was the only successful one so far. This time, the plan is to make the project "a live-action, four-quadrant adventure movie."

"We've seen him as a manga, an anime and an animated movie but we've never seen him as a live-action movie or him as a superhero," Zareh Nalbandian of Animal Logic Entertainment said. "We actually see him in the same league as an Iron Man."