“Spiderwick Chronicles” star Freddie Highmore is to voice the lead character in 3-D animation “Astro Boy.”

The lonely robot tale is a $50 million adaptation of a classic comicbook story created by manga supremo Osamu Tezuka that’s in production with Hong Kong-based Imagi Studios.

Directed by David Bowers, the pic will be released worldwide in 2009 by Warner Bros. and the Weinstein Co.