Well, here’s some news in the area of ‘totally unexpected’ – a Rugrats movie is in development by Paramount Studios.
Holy 90’s nostalgia, Batman! And if that weren’t enough, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Diary of a Wimpy Kid director David Bowers is signing on to work on the film.
Can you imagine Tommy, Chucky, and co. crawling around on the silver screen? No need to fear, though – it won’t be live-action like the 90’s Baby’s Day Out movies. According to a press release by Nickelodeon last year, Rugrats will be a “live-action film featuring CGI characters”. So, basically, like the majority of kids’ movies nowadays. It looks like Nickelodeon are looking to butt heads with other industry titans of animation like Disney and Dreamworks.
As for the director selection, Rugrats appears to be in good hands. Bowers has worked on many animated features and he’s even an animator himself. His directing resume is sprinkled with the likes of Flushed Away and Astro Boy. Before that, Bowers made his start in animation as an Inbetweener artist on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? while working as an animator for An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and a storyboard artist for Chicken Run. Seriously, the man is no stranger where big animated projects are concerned.
The Rugrats aren’t only headed towards the silver screen however, as Nickelodeon is ordering a 26-episode revival of the classic series for TV. Original series producers Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain will return to work on the series. No word on the release date yet.
Meanwhile, you can expect to see Bowers’ CG Rugrats movie on January 29th, 2021. There’s no word currently on how it will tie into the series or whether it will follow its own continuity but you can expect a lot of 90’s nostalgia.
Is Bowers a good call for the Rugrats movie? Or was it a bad decision to even consider a movie in the first place? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
