Welp....I didn't expect Paramount to give off so much news in so little time, especially when it comes to animation. I've made many complaints about Paramount in the past and last year I made my predictions on Paramount +. Do they hold up? Let's find out
1. ViacomCBS is DEAD
Ok that was click baity, but the name is gone. Viacom is no more. Instead, the whole company will be called Paramount (more specifically Paramount Global). CBS will remain the brand for its network.
2. Among the top titles for Paramount +
They are.....Paw Patrol, Clifford the Big Red Dog (uggg...why), Spongebob, and the South Park specials. We'll talk more about South Park later. I've said before that unless it's Spongebob or Paw Patrol, just forget it, and with these being top content, it does seem that way, but hold on. We're not done yet.
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| Artwork by me, because yup....had to be done |
3. Paramount banks heavily on Sonic the Hedgehog
We already have a second Sonic movie coming out in April, but Paramount announced that a THIRD Sonic movie is coming out afterwards. Or at the very least, in development. Next year, a new series based around Knuckles will be coming to Paramount +. The first Sonic movie almost became a disaster, but they actually listened to fan demands, fixed up the hedgehog, and now Paramount is making hand over fist for the blue speed demon. As of today, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Sat AM, and Sonic Underground is streaming on Paramount +. It doesn't mean Paramount fully owns these cartoons, but it does help with content library when it comes to promoting the latest Sonic stuff. Even though he's Sega's mascot, I'm wondering if Sonic is looking to be their Mickey Mouse for Paramount.....hmmmm........
4. More Spongebob
Being a top show streaming on Paramount + of course Paramount will be working on new Spongebob. This time, 3 characters driven films and one big theatrical tent-pole. So expect I guess another Spongebob feature. There's no stopping the sponge. He's probably Nickelodeon's most popular character. Now the network has been taking some gambles with The Loud House and Casagrandes, but will that continue...I don't know.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will continue to thrive. Next year, a new Ninja Turtle film will be released with Seth Rogen at the helm (hoo boy) followed by a series of villain centered films. I guess that is one classic IP Paramount has been keeping active somewhat, though I see no original series on Paramount + yet. My guess as to why is that there's value to be had with those original episodes ala The Muppet Show. They're all on DVD however so there's that. Plus they used the classic designs for All Star Brawl. Not bad even though I'm not a Ninja Turtle fan.
A nightmare to parents and the guys in the costumes at the parks or birthday parties and community events. Another Paw Patrol movie has been green-lit and a spin off TV series is in the works. Now I have heard the first one is really good, so hey, at least they are not scrubbing it off as money grabber for the kids to the annoyance of parents making their kids happy.
A new movie, Blue's Big City Adventure, is coming out this year and will feature ALL the hosts past and present. Blue's Clues return surprised us all as to how big of a hit it was. To make matters better, when Steve returned with a message, it broke the Internet. I personally think we are ready for more Blue's Clues. I wouldn't watch it now, but as a kid it was a lot of fun.
8. Baby Shark movie in 2023
Next......
Two new series has been announced. The first is a CGI animated series. The second will be a live action series basing it around the newer live action movie which will be targeted to older audiences. This ought to be interesting since Dora had always targeted towards pre-schoolers. Maybe Paramount has come to the realization that cartoons are for everybody.
10. South Park
The success of the South Park Covid specials means that Paramount + will be debuting 2 more South Park events per year for 6 years. In 2024, new episodes will stream there first, and by 2025, all streaming rights will move from HBO Max over to Paramount +. This is one of the most valuable TV shows for streaming, so this would add more value to Paramount +. In fact, Paramount gave it more attention than HBO Max.
11. Last....and least.....a new Beavis and Butthead movie
In addition, Paramount a while back announced they are banking more on The Smurfs. Something I never thought would happen because most of the latest stuff has always been through Sony, but with the recent reboot on Nickelodeon, Paramount wants to continue. The original Hanna Barbera series is still owned by Warner, so don't worry about that. They're also working on the newly acquired Garfield. In fact, Nickelodeon's already doing stuff such as appearing in All Star Brawl. The streaming rights to the original cartoons are still all over the place and nowhere over at Paramount +. Instead, Peacock has the specials, Peacock and Tubi combined has seasons 4-7 of Garfield and Friends, and Boomerang has seasons 1-3.
And throughout all of this.....no signs about the classic cartoon library BUT Arnold Leibovit is still working with Paramount on the Puppetoons for Blu-ray and the Fleischer family in association with Rockin Pins is working on restoring their assets with some work with the original masters over at Paramount.
One of them just debuted on Me TV as part of their Colossal Christmas Special. Could these open more of the vaults??? I guess time will tell.
Lastly, let me just say that while the rebrand was off to a rocky start last March, Paramount + in the end pleasantly surprised me. So many old Nickelodeon shows and even the live action Loud House movie, A Loud House Christmas. They also started doing linear channels for content such as Spongebob and Paw Patrol. So who knows what's next for Paramount. Maybe something bigger?????
So that's now two times a Dora fan mock up became real...
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