In the world of cartoons, Disney and the Looney Tunes will probably always been king of the mountain - but there's a certain growing argument to be made for the Nicktoons of the 1990s. The individuals of the generation that grew up on these shows are now 25-35 years old, and the programming is looked back on with powerful nostalgia and appreciation - from great memories of Doug's crazy days in Bluffington, to Rocko's wild adventures with Filbert and Heffer. If new rumors are to be believed, these characters and many more are now close to coming back in a big way, with their very own Who Framed Roger Rabbit-type feature film.
This news comes to us from The Tracking Board, which says that Paramount Pictures (a subsidiary of Viacom, just like Nickelodeon) is now in the midst of developing a film that will simply be titled Nicktoons. Citing projects like Space Jam, The LEGO Movie, and Wreck-It Ralph, the plan is for the film to be a blend of live-action and animation, and feature characters from all of the biggest Nick cartoons. As noted by the site, this is a list that includes Rugrats, Angry Beavers, Hey Arnold!, Rocko’s Modern Life, Ren and Stimpy, Catdog, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Doug.
The project is only starting to be developed now, so the foundation is only starting to be laid. Producer Mary Parent is reportedly heading up the project for now, and is currently making sure that the rights to all of the aforementioned shows can be locked down. At the same time, Paramount Pictures is currently meeting with writers to try and find the right person or team to tackle the big feature.
This isn't the first time that Nickelodeon has been in the news recently - and it's why we're not too surprised that we're hearing of this Nicktoons feature. Last week, the studio's president of content and development Russell Hicks went on record saying that the company is in the process of looking back into its library of successful shows and looking for ways to bring them back. We don't know if there are any other major projects in the works, but Nicktoons certainly sounds like a great way to reinvigorate the brand. Of course, they have to find the proper filmmakers to make sure that it's done right.
Provided that this film is in development, it will be fascinating to watch it develop. After all, the cartoon titles mentioned above all don't exactly have a ton in common, so getting them to come together may take a bit of narrative legwork. That being said, there are thousands upon thousands of creative and fun ways to go about it, and it will be fun and interesting to see which route it winds up taking.
