In what sounds like an absolute fever dream, Deadline revealed that yet another childhood classic will be resurrected in a way that we never asked for nor needed. News broke today that Rugrats, the generation-defining animated cartoon from our youth, will be butchered and turned into a live-action CGI hybrid feature-length production. While we can only imagine seeing this version of Tommy Pickles and co. as our sleep paralysis demons, director Jason Moore (Shotgun Wedding), hopefully has a better vision than we do as the project’s helmer. Saturday Night Live star Mikey Day co-penned the movie’s script alongside SNL writer, Streeter Seidell.
Right now, plot details are under wraps for what adventures the hybrid babies will find themselves on in the upcoming film, but we’d expect that the creative team will lean into the nostalgia factor for the demo they’re likely targeting. Speaking of that demo, so many of us are now closer in age to the adults on the series, with back pains and the existential dread of life creeping in, the movie will definitely hit differently for the folks who grew up watching the brave babies on Nickelodeon. Some might even bring babies of their own.
The classic series first debuted on Nickelodeon in 1991 and became an immediate sensation. Created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain, the animated show followed a crew of toddling best pals (some of whom were related) Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Angelica, on their daily adventures. Though they were able to communicate with one another in English, they couldn’t do so with their parents, sort of in the same vein as the Peanuts. From outside their playpen, which Tommy would unlock with a screwdriver, the babies learned about the world around them and always managed to make it back in time before their parents realized they were missing. To be honest, it was some pretty poor parenting for a multitude of reasons, but how didn’t Tommy’s parents notice he had a screwdriver in his diaper? I mean, I get it, I’m tired too, but that’s next level.
Life After ‘Rugrats’
In 1993, the show hit a roadblock, with the final episode of the original series arriving in 1994. Over the next two years, two specials, “A Rugrats Passover” and “A Rugrats Chanukah” aired and drove up viewership numbers with the help of reruns. Eventually, Rugrats came back to TV for its fourth season in 1997, with some iconic films leading the babies into the new millennium. Since then, there have been various off-shoots of Rugrats, including a sequel series titled All Grown Up! as well as a full-blown reboot that landed on Paramount+ in 2021.
As of right now, no release date has been set for the sure-to-be unsettling live-action CGI hybrid of Rugrats in movie form but stay tuned to Collider for more information. You can stream past Rugrats installments on Paramount+
via Collider