Japanese animation studio Toei Animation has announced its animated feature Hypergalactic, with a story and characters co-created by notable Japanese artist Naoto Oshima.
The story follows an adventurous teenage girl (Fisher) and her baby brother in the not-so-distant future, after they liberate the forgotten protector of Earth, Ohkan (Devine), in the hopes that he can help reunite them with their missing parents. Together, the unlikely trio sets off on a surprise-filled journey, discovering the deeper meaning of family along the way.
With Hypergalactic, game designer Oshima has created a multicultural adventure tale of epic scale – combining memorable global characters with a Japanese anime aesthetic and a Western approach to storytelling, said Toei Animation producer Yoshi Ikezawa.
Oshima has designed the hit global franchise Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega, and Joseph Chou (Blade Runner 2022: Black Out, Ghost in the Shell, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim).
Hypergalactic is directed by David N. Weiss and marks Toei’s biggest CGI film to date. This English-language family film comes on the heels of Toei’s major anime hits including The First Slam Dunk, which won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Animation of the Year and grossed $279 million (as of November 2023) worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time and the animated One Piece Film: Red, which has grossed over $246.5 million (as of January 2023) worldwide.
Weiss is a screenwriter and director, having written and co-written animated screenplays including: Shrek 2; All Dogs Go to Heaven; The Smurfs and its sequel; The Rugrats Movie and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Most recently, he wrote the story for the 2022 Disney+ film Disenchanted.
Hypergalactic will feature the voice talents of Adam Devine (The Righteous Gemstones, The Out-Laws, Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2, Isn’t It Romantic?), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade, Despicable Me, The Addams Family), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy, La La Land) and Sam Richardson (Veep, The Afterparty, Ted Lasso).
Charades is representing the worldwide distribution rights to the film and will launch sales at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin this month alongside Iwashina Corporation founder Kevin Iwashina, who is also an advisor to Toei. Currently in post-production, the main producer of the film is Yoshi Ikezawa from Toei and the executive producers are Kozo Morishita, Katsuhiro Takagi and Tim Kwok.
“Toei Animation has established itself as one of the most consistent global creators of quality animation. Hypergalactic is the result of their experience in creating recognisable global IP, the team’s ability to adapt manga into successful universal anime – such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon – and their interest in supplying stories for an array of audiences. I believe Hypergalactic is a rare opportunity for the independent film marketplace to partner with one of the most significant companies in animation,” said Charades co-CEO Yohann Comte.
Devine is represented by CAA, Avalon Management and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich, Goodell & Gellman. Fisher is represented by Innovative Artists, Simmons by The Gersh Agency, Richardson by UTA, Artists First, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. Weiss is represented by Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo.
