(Relaxnews) - As the US box office gears up for its lucrative autumn cinema season, a plucky little robot lad from Asia is hoping to steal the spotlight from some of Hollywood's heavyweight contenders. The Hong Kong-based Imagi Animation Studio is on October 23 set to release on the North American market its 3D version of Astro Boy - its reworking of the classic Japanese manga-style comic from the 1960s about an android lad with superhero powers. In the English-language version of the US$65 million budgeted film, Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage will provide the voices for the lead roles - Astro Boy and Dr Temma, the scientist who builds the robot in the image of his dead son. In Hong Kong, the Cantonese-language version has young actor Goum Ian Iskander and industry veteran Aaron Kwok for the leads - the first time they have worked together since After This Our Exile, which swept five of the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards.

"Astro Boy is a Hong Kong film, no doubt,'' an Imagi spokesperson told Relaxnews. "Our management is overseas now, working on making sure the film is one of the year's success stories. We are confident people will see how the animation industry here can now compete with the best in the world.'' Imagi has had international success previously with TMNT (2007) which took in almost US$100 million (69 million euros) globally and the release of Astro Boy around the same time that American cinemas will be featuring films by the likes of proven box office winners Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man) and Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) is a testament to the faith put into the film by its backers. Imagi are also currently at work on their next production - an updated version of the Japanese anime series Gatchaman, which follows the exploits of a five-member team of superheroes that first appeared in the 1970s. The film is set for release towards the end of 2010. Hong Kong animators have already been making waves this year, with the Chinese-language film McDull Wudang topping the box office charts in mainland China on release - despite going up against Hollywood's big guns such GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra. That film has now gone on to collect more than 70 million yuan (seven million euros) in ticket sales. Highest grossing animated films of all time: (1) Shrek 2 (DreamWorks) US$441,226,247 (303 million euros) (2) Finding Nemo (Buena Vista) US$339,714,978 (233 million euros) (3) The Lion King (Buena Vista) US$328,541,776 (225 million euros) (4) Shrek the Third (Dreamworks) US$322,719,944 (222 million euros) (5) Up (Buena Vista) US$290,866,563* (200 million euros) * still screening; source: boxofficemojo.com MS