Australian animation studio Animal Logic Entertainment is hoping to work the same magic it did with The Lego Movie on a new live-action feature film based on iconic Japanese comic book franchise Astro Boy.

The Sydney-headquartered company has joined forces with one of Japan’s leading manga/animation studios, Tezuka Productions, to develop a movie version featuring the young robot boy superhero, which was originally created by manga author/illustrator Osamu Tezuka in 1951.

While no director or writers have been attached to the project yet, Animal Logic’s Zareh Nalbandian is on-board to produce with executive production from Jason Lust and Ranger 7 Films’ Mike Callaghan and Reuben Liber.

Known in Japan as Mighty Atom, Astro Boy first took flight in the manga world from 1951 to 1968 before expanding into multiple animated TV series and a 3D CG-animated Hollywood feature film in 2009.

To date, more than 100 million copies of the manga series have been sold worldwide, making Astro Boy Tezuka’s most famous character. And while the TV series also found long-term success, the 2009 movie version failed to strike a chord with the global box office.

With additional credits including Happy Feet, The Matrix, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, this summer’s highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron, and a Betty Boop hybrid feature in development, Animal Logic has quickly made a name for itself as one the world’s top visual effects and animation studios.