To help celebrate the global distribution agreement between Imagi Animation Studios with Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company, they have released the first posters for both films.

While I don’t know if these are the official movie posters or not, they have both been provided to me by Imagi Animation so they are definitely real... And if you want to see something cool, try clicking on the Gatchaman poster to see the detail on the face and the wristwatch…. below the poster's are some background on both movies.

Gatchaman, scheduled for release in early 2009, originated in Japan in the early 1970s as the television series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Aired in the U.S. as Battle of the Planets and G-Force, it soon became a widely popular syndicated TV series.

Featuring some of the most ambitious action sequences ever seen in animation, Gatchaman is set in a future world grappling with environmental and technological issues. The story focuses on five reluctant heroes whose remarkable genetic code makes them Earth’s only hope of defeating extra-terrestrial invaders. Kevin Munroe (TMNT) is the director, with Lynne Southerland producing.

Slated for release later in 2009, AstroBoy was created by the “god of manga,” Japan’s Osamu Tezuka, in the early 1950s. The animated television series first aired in 1963 in Japan and found great acclaim and success around the world. In the U.S., it quickly became a top syndicated children’s show. The iconic character’s fame grew in the 1980s and 2003 with two new AstroBoy TV series attracting new generations of fans.

AstroBoy tells the story of a powerful robot boy created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Our hero journeys to find acceptance in the human world, and ultimately discovers true friendship as he uses his incredible powers to help others and save Metro City from destruction. Colin Brady (Toy Story 2, Everyone’s Hero) directs, and Maryann Garger is the producer.