Summit, Imagi in Astro Boy Distribution Partnership

LOS ANGELES/HONG KONG,
June 17: Summit Entertainment has reached a deal to distribute Imagi Studios’
upcoming CG-animated motion picture Astro Boy worldwide, excluding Japan, Hong Kong and China.

Slated for worldwide
theatrical release in 2009, Astro Boy will feature the voices of Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage,
Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy, with Freddie
Highmore in the title role. David Bowers is directing Astro Boy from a screenplay written by Timothy Harris, with
Maryann Garger producing.

Set in futuristic Metro
City, Imagi Studios' Astro Boy is
about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to
replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's
expectations, the robot embarks on a journey in search of acceptance,
experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns
to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.

Astro Boy was created by Japan's Osamu Tezuka in the early
1950s. The iconic manga character has since been featured in three animated
television series spanning the past four decades.

"We are pleased to
join with Imagi Studios in bringing the exceptional world of Astro Boy to both existing and a new generation of fans
alike," said Rob Friedman, the co-chairman and CEO of Summit
Entertainment. "The team at Imagi Studios is capturing the spirit of this
popular post-modern franchise by doing great things with the story, characters
and animation. Astro Boy promises
to be an excellent addition to our existing slate of family films."

Douglas Glen, the CEO of
Imagi Studios, added, "Astro Boy has been one of the world's best-known and most loved superheroes for
more than 50 years. We are pleased to partner with Summit to deliver Astro
Boy’s first CGI feature film to worldwide audiences on a
grand scale. Imagi and Summit are a great fit, with high energy,
entrepreneurial cultures and a vision of building movie-driven global brands."

Imagi's first theatrical
movie TMNT was released in
March 2007, opening at number one in American box-office revenue.

—By Irene Lew