Nickelodeon’s ’90s Nicktoons Getting A Live-Action Animation Hybrid Movie
Hot on the heels of news this past week thatNickelodeonis consideringreviving some of its fan-favorite cartoonsfrom the ’90s, animated characters from that decade at the kid-geared cable network may also get new life on the big screen.
Paramount Pictures is said to be in the early stages of development of a live-action/animationNicktoonsmovie that will bring together the likes ofRugrats, Angry Beavers, Hey Arnold!, Rocko’s Modern Life, Ren & Stimpyand more for some kind of crossover project akin toThe LEGO MovieorSpace Jam.
The Tracking Board, who can be hit or miss with their scoops, say Paramount is currently in the midst of locking down rights to each of the shows they wish to include in this crossover movie that has been pitched as a sort of Nicktoons Avengers or Justice League. However,The LEGO Moviecomparison seems more in line with the kind of movie we’re likely to see, since these Nicktoons likely aren’t going to be fighting aliens and super villains.
Even though nostalgia has been king in Hollywood for awhile now, this kind of project really seems to be coming out of left field. But maybe Paramount Pictures liked both the style and reception of the recentSpongeBob SquarePantslive-action/animation hybrid sequel and figured they might as well used their parent company Viacom’s kids cable network to make another film in the same way.
Mary Parent, who actually produced theSpongeBob SquarePantssequel, is also on board this Nicktoons project, intending to produce withCale Boyterby way of their Disruption Entertainment banner, which has an overall deal with Paramount. The studio is currently out to writers for scripting duties.
As a child of the late 80s/early 90s who watchedRugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life, DougandRen & Stimpy, this idea sounds like it could be a load of fun. But at the same time, the idea of exploiting nostalgia for cartoons from a decade as recent as the 90s makes me feel a little dirty. It all depends on the story and whether or not you can combine all these different characters into the movie in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s just a cash grab.
This would mark a big leap to the big screen for a lot of these cartoons though since the only 90s Nicktoons to get movies wereHey Arnold!,RugratsandThe Wild Thornberrys(and the latter two actually met in a crossover movie too).Dougreceived the movie treatment, but by that point, the cartoon had jumped to ABC. In fact, since the cartoon moved over to Disney’s network, I’m not sure if the awkward adolescent would be part of thisNicktoonsproject.
While the nostalgia factor is in play, I’m not sure why this project would specifically focus on the 90s cartoons instead of all of Nickelodeon’s cartoons, in order to reach the widest possible audience. Anyway, it’s still early in development on this one, so we’ll see what happens.
