Variety is reporting that a director has been signed to direct an all-CGI Astro Boy feature film for release in 2004.  Eric Leighton, the co-director of Dinosaur, signed a seven-figure deal for the film with Sony Pictures Entertainment, according to the report.  Before his work on Dinosaur, Leighton supervised animation on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.  Sony's Imageworks is reportedly already producing test footage.

Astro Boy will be produced by Don Murphy, who also produced From Hell, based on a Fantagraphics graphic novel (see 'From Hell Wins Box Office'). 

Astro Boy is based on the manga (and subsequent anime) created in 1963 by Osamu Tezuka, the influential creator considered to be the father of manga and anime.  U.S. pop culture retailers are already gearing up for a revival of the Astro Boy property.  The first of the Astro Boy trade paperback collections from Dark Horse (see Dark Horse to Publish Astro Boy') and of the Astro Boy video releases from Manga Entertainment are scheduled for February release.