Toei Animation, the anime giant behind the One Piece and The First Slam Dunk, has teamed up with Sonic the Hedgehog game designer Naoto Oshima for a new, English-language movie that the studio is calling its biggest CGI project to date.
The movie, titled Hypergalactic, will be set in the near future and follow an adventurous teenage girl (voiced by Eighth Grade's Elsie Fisher) and her little brother as they team up with Ohkan (Adam Devine), the forgotten protector of Earth, in an attempt to reunite with their missing parents. The unlikely trio set out on an adventure full of surprises and discover the real meaning of family along the way. The voice cast will also include JK Simmons and The Afterparty's Sam Richardson.
David N. Weiss, whose screenwriting credits include Shrek 2, The Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, and The Smurfs, is directing the movie, with the story and characters co-created by Oshima and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim producer Joseph Chou. The film is currently in post-production and doesn't have a release date yet.
"With Hypergalactic, the hugely talented 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," Toei producer Yoshi Ikezawa said in a statement. "We look forward to delivering our brand of quality animation to broader global audiences beyond our existing loyal and committed fan base."
While we wait for Hypergalactic to arrive on the big screen, check out our guide to the best new anime in 2024.