Iron Boy: First US Trailer Released

Louis Clichy's Iron Boy (known in French as Le Corset) is among the most acclaimed animated films of 2026. Premiering at this year's Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, it went on to win the Special Jury Prize. It would go on to win the Jury Award, the Audience Award (feature) and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at Annecy Festival, and the Special Jury and Features Audience Prizes at the Animation Is Film Festival. The film is also thought of as a serious contender for Awards Season, with a nomination for the Best Animated Feature Oscar seemingly quite likely. The film was also screened at New York Film Festival, London Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Sony Pictures Classic acquired the rights to the film for the US and Canada, Latin America, India and Southeast Asian television, shortly after the premiere. Sony's boutique label usually releases arthouse and independent cinema from around the world, and rarely tips its toe into animation. However, they previously released Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist, Mamoru Hosoda's Scarlet, Michael Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle, Satoshi Kon's Paprika, Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi's (RIP) Persepolis and DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman's The Peasants. When they pick up an animated movie, it tends to be something special.

SPC will release the film for a one-week awards-qualifying run on December 4 (presumably in New York and LA only). A wider run will follow in select cities from January 22, 2027. Sony has just released the first official American trailer for the film. The trailer is dialogue-free and features moments from throughout the film. We are assuming the film is going to be released in French with subtitles, even though it's made for family audiences. But the trailer does not confirm either way.

French-born Clichy's animation career took him to the United States, where he worked on Wall.E and Up at Pixar. Returning home, he co-directed the two CG Asterix movies The Mansions Of The Gods and The Secret Of The Magic Potion with Alexandre Astier. Iron Boy is his solo directorial debut and marks his return to 2D animation from his pre-Pixar days.

The film's animation is produced using Chinese ink brushes and watercolour painting. The art style is inspired by manga and French comics (Bande Dessinée) as well as Chinese paintings. It would not be a surprise if it were adapted from a graphic novel, but this is actually an entirely original concept, scripted by Clichy with Franck Salomé. It is inspired by Clichy's own childhood and features his son Gary Clichy in the lead role, making it a very personal film. The film is set in the French region of Beauce, where Clichy spent his early childhood.

Iron Boy follows 11-year-old Christophe, who has spent his childhood so far trying to please his unpleasable farmer father. But when he starts having uncontrollable collapsing fits, a doctor prescribes him an iron corset to be worn day and night. No longer any use to dear old dad, he is pushed out into the wider world. Out there, he discovers a whole new world of music, mischief and a new friend who can see past the corset.

The film is a French-Belgian co-production, with Belgian companies Beside Production and RTBF and French companies Eddy Cinéma, Regular Production, France 3, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinema working together on the project. Animation comes from Eddy Studio, Caribara, Les Astronautes, Amopix, and L'enclume. Cécile Guillard was the Art Director.

The voice cast features Gary Clichy as Christophe, Rod Paradot as JB, Brune Moulin as Clara, Dimitri Colas as Jean, Aurélie Vassort as Catherine, Alexandre Astier as Michel and Jean-Pascal Zadi as the Priest.

The film was released in France on October 14, and has gone on to surpass 40,000 admissions (full box office numbers have not been released). SPC will be hoping that this coming-of-age tale will prove universal and attract a large audience in the US. And if it can score an Oscar nomination too? Then that would be magnifique!

Check out the first US teaser trailer below.