Director Michael Bay‘s 451 Media Group joined hands with China’s Alpha Animation and Culture Corporation to develop and distribute Hollywood’s big brands.
Alpha Animation is also the distributor of Hasbro products in countries such as China, Singapore and Malaysia. Other co-owners of 451 Media Group, John and Anthony Gentile played big roles in our childhood by creating brands such as Micronauts and Visionaries. During the past conference calls, Hasbro expressed their interest in creating a Live Action Movie for Micronauts and it seems as though that plan is being carried out.
With the news of Transformers Franchise expanding to a Cinematic Universe, we can speculate that this new development may play a very vital part in that as well.
“The strategic partnership would allow 451 to develop content like feature films, apps and physical toys based on original intellectual property and disseminate them in unison, said an individual familiar with the deal.” says The Wrap. “This a very well executed partnership within the emerging Chinese entertainment and toy industry, bringing together the strength of both companies in the areas of original IP development for global audiences, product design, animation development and mobile and online channel creation,” said Solon So, President of Alpha Pictures.You can read more info at Deadline, Variety and The Wrap.
Image courtesy: Michael Bay Official Website
ParaChomp
Bay usually equals bad films however considering how well the films do in China this is an excellent business decision on his part.
calvin0
ah auldey, they used to make tamiya knock off… now they have thier own brand of mini 4wd line and a kamen rider\metal hero as well…
Weremole
Oh, it's notable that Alpha Animation/Auldey is also the makers of Armor Hero and the Giant Saver series.
https://www.youtube.com/user/AlphaAnimationZone/videos
They have a Youtube channel here
TF@TM
Ah this has been made public at last, awesome.
For the record whilst AGE created Micronauts they sold the IP to Hasbro Inc a few years back to develop the brand including the planned JJ Abrams film which was put on hold due to his involvement with Star Trek and now Star Wars.
astrocreep777
Yeah and plus that its anime I dont like anyways (if they did fate/zero or puella magica madoka charaters than i would get some). Yeah microman always did have some bizzare but yet awesome designs. Also if they do they better do it as a kid toy again the stupid adult collectable thing didnt work out to well beside those awesome reissues of the vintage figures. Wish they reissued the amazon acroyear but oh well. Yeah don't get me started with bay and I liked the marvel comics but I wish if they did a movie I wish they would follow the 70's manga from what I hear its pretty good. Im trying to look for english translations of it.
openchallenge
Using the buck for other properties doesn't interest me. I liked acroyer and all the future/ancient design that came with proper microman releases. I agree that the Bay can glaze over the sensibilities of existing stories. I just finally watched AOE because the 3 disk went on clearance at target. There wasn't much lore to go with micronauts. The marvel comics never clicked for me, I don"t care about the shows I just hope they result in some good figures.
calvin0
this will surely work well and not fail at all….
astrocreep777
Oh come on bay you already screwed transformers leave the god damn micronauts (microman) alone please that franchise went through hell already it doesnt need bays "help".
Microman is still kinda around theres the microman arts subline its just anime charaters but it use the microman name.
Tekmen
Don't let the name fool you, it's actually a toy manufacturer…. the biggest in China to be exact.
It mostly co-ops with animation studios to produce shows, much like Hasbro nowadays.
So why does the name have "animation" and "culture"? It gets to do with some polices and lousy translations……..
openchallenge
I was into the microman reissues and the new lines. Then microman didn't survive the tomy merger. Palisades tried to get micronauts going again but had terrible luck with manufacturing and the toys where insanely fragile. Now it's over a decade later. I hope they really bring the line back this time. If it results in some updated classics, maybe some sturdier six inch versions that would be great.
MindChamber
I want Go-Bots
Autovolt 127
Michael Bay and an animation studio.
Oh This will end well…..
QLRformer
That sounds interesting. Here's hoping some good works, TF-related or otherwise, come from this partnership.
kaijuguy19
Makes me wonder if we'll get some animated movies that takes place in the movie universe.
bellpeppers
Now lets see if any of these people know how to make decent-to-good films.
Gryph
Sounds interesting. I'm curious to see what comes out of this.
SilverOptimus
News Post: Michael Bay Join Forces With Alpha Animation