Nineties kids rejoice—Paramount Players is reviving Nickelodeon classic Rugrats, everyone’s favorite cartoon about toddlers with disturbingly large faces. “Rugrats is hands-down one of the most celebrated cartoons in TV history, and we are thrilled for a whole new audience to meet these iconic characters in brand-new adventures,” Sarah Levy, the interim president of Nickelodeon and COO of Viacom Media Networks, told the Wrap.
The creators of the original series will be returning to the show as executive producers on 26 new episodes. The cartoon will also be made into a “live-action movie featuring CGI characters,” reportedly slated for November 13, 2020.
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This isn’t a surprising move, given Disney’s recent track record for live-action remakes—2017’s Beauty and the Beast made more than $1 billion. The original Rugrats cartoon was beloved, winning four Daytime Emmy Awards and getting a Hollywood Star during its 13-year run, and The Rugrats Movie and The Rugrats in Paris each made more than $100 million. The innovation here is the live-action CGI toddlers going on adventures, but that might put us right in the middle of uncanny valley. The only creepier live-action 90s Nickelodeon cartoon I can envision is a CGI CatDog.
Rugrats will be joining other recent reboots of Nickelodeon favorites, including Blue’s Clues, Hey Arnold! and TV movies reviving Invader Zim and Rocko’s Modern Life, enabling a generation who grew up with these franchises to force their nostalgia on their own children. Finger’s crossed for Rocket Power and The Wild Thornberrys to be revived next.
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