Paramount Animation’s Second Film to Be An Original Concept

Looks like Paramount Animation’s second feature will be based on an original concept, according to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman.

Deadline reports that the film will be released sometime after The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 2, Paramount Animation’s first animated feature set for 2014.  Dauman said that this second film will be “based on original IP [intellectual property] and will have consumer products possibilities.” (Translation: we are planning on making lots of money on this).

In August 2012, soon after it was revealed that Paramount had lost its distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation, Paramount conveniently announced it was entering the animation business itself. Paramount plans to spend around $100 million on each film’s animation budget, although Dauman said, “in some cases [it will be] significantly below.” Viacom–the giant media conglomerate of which Paramount is a division–will base other films on its Nickelodeon intellectual property such as Dora the Explorer, The Legend of Korra, and Monkey Quest. Dauman also said that this second film will put Paramount Animation “very much on track to begin with one [animated] release per year.”

Back in 2011, Paramount purchase the rights from Penny Arcade to the film rights to the one-off strip comic The New Kid. It doesn’t seem as if the new film will be based on this property, since it’s not original IP. Nonetheless, there hasn’t been any new update on the status of that film.

It seems a sad state for animation if a film that is an “original concept” is headline news. Nonetheless, this news is interesting since it’s coming from a company that already has so many profitable franchises from which it can pull for source material. There’s no need to develop new ideas, but the fact that Paramount Animation is going in this direction shows promise.

What Viacom property are you most looking forward to seeing on the big screen?