Sony snags new hand-painted Iron Boy feature

Sony Pictures Classics has swooped in to snag French animated childhood drama flick, Iron Boy, across North and Latin America as well as India and Southeast Asian TV. Headed by Louis Clichy, which you may know the name of as he spent years working on Pixar’s classics — namely Wall-E and Up. This flick, though, marks his first time as a solo director.

Iron Boy took advantage of Cannes Film Festival‘s Un Certain Regard category. Obviously, Sony sees something in Clichy’s French-language childhood drama flick.

Iron Boy‘s story follows 11-year-old Christophe in rural France as he deals with bouts of falling over by wearing an iron corset. In the film, he meets new friends, finds a passion for music, and just has to go about life.

In terms of style, Clichy took a different approach than what people probably would’ve expected from an ex-Pixar staffer. The flick takes on the style of a manga with an appealing — to us, at least — visual flair and a definite break from the norm.

Beyond the ex-Pixar alumnus, Iron Boy was co-written alongside Franck Salomé, who has a history inking the words of French animated projects. In terms of producers, it snagged quite a few — Céline Vanlint and Nicolas de Rosanbo alongside Fabrice Delville, Christophe Toulemonde, Agathe Sofer, and Alexandre Astier taking roles as co-producers.