The Ballad of Tobio & Hannah

The Ballad of Tobio & Hannah is an upcoming jukebox musical sports comedy directed and written by Gerry Tanaka from a story by Osamu Tezuka, it is a remake of the 1975 Carl Andy film Toby, in turn based on the Manga, The Ballad of Tobio, and stars Gerry's son Jake Tanaka and Sophia Lillis as the title couple, alongside Kurt Russell, James Gandolfini, Marisa Tomei, Abraham Attah and Mackenyu, the film follows Tobio Katsumoto, a street orphan turned Boxer and his romance with Italian-American foreign exchange student Hannah Cacaronie, in Tokyo during the mid 1960s.

the project was announced in November 2018 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (who owns the original 1975 film through United Artists) after securing the rights from Tezuka Productions (owner of the original Manga), Gerry Tanaka was announced as director in Fall of 2020, later it was announced Paramount Pictures (who owns US rights to the 1979-82 Anime) would co-produce the film, Gerry's son Jake was soon cast in the male lead, casting continued until January and principal photography began in later that month under COVID-19 safe regulations, taking place in Los Angeles and Canada, Carl Andy, director of the original film was hired as creative consultant.

the film will be released on November 18, 2022.

Cast
for Character info, see the List of Characters section


 * Jake Tanaka as Tobio Katsumoto
 * Sophia Lillis as Hannah Cacaronie
 * Kurt Russel as Robert Shmuel
 * James Gandolfini as Johnnie Cacaronie
 * Marisa Tomei as Katie Cacaronie
 * Mackenyu as Maku Kata
 * Abraham Attah as Jazz Kid