Paramount Will Avoid Releasing Expensive Original Animated Movies in Theaters

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Paramount Will Avoid Releasing Expensive Original Animated Movies in Theaters

Paramount Pictures is going to avoid releasing expensive original animated movies in theaters as a way to avoid box office failure.

The company behind animated movies like Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, PAW Patrol: The Movie, and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be cutting back on non-IP theatrical animated films. CEO Brian Robbins recently overhauled the Paramount animation division and moved Under the Boardwalk, an animated movie about hermit crabs on Jersey Shore, to an exclusive Paramount+ release.

“We’re not going to release an expensive original animated movie and just pray people will come,” he says.

Robbins wants their theatrical animated slate to be more based in familiar properties, like PAW Patrol, SpongeBob Squarepants, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, all of which have new movies coming out. Robbins believes they will appeal to the millennials who grew up with the shows.

“It’s not about Disney and Pixar anymore,” he says, noting the commercial underperformance of recent Pixar movies like Elemental and Lightyear. “People are looking for animated movies that are irreverent and have a comedic point of view.”

What is the next Paramount movie?

Paramount Pictures is releasing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. It arrives in theaters on August 2, 2023.