Paramount Pictures has revealed (via Collider) that their long-delayed animated movie Rumble will be sidelining cinemas. Instead, the monster toon will be released exclusively on the studio’s streaming service Paramount+ from December 15, 2021.
The studio also provided a new trailer, nearly two years since the first one that was for its then-intended theatrical release:
(Note: If the YouTube upload is region-blocked as is the case for me, please try the Twitter video embed below instead.)
Produced by Paramount Animation and Reel FX, Rumble tells the underdog story of lazy monster Steve (Will Arnett) who is trained by his human coach Winnie (Geraldine Viswanathan) to become a champion of Monster Wrestling. DreamWorks story artist Hamish Grieve directs the movie as his debut, with screenwriting duties handled by Scoob! writer Matt Lieberman and The Darkest Minds author Alexandra Bracken.
Tanya Giles of ViacomCBS Streaming remarked the following statement about Rumble’s release on Paramount+:
“We are thrilled to build on our recent success with family-friendly films and bring ‘Rumble‘s’ entertaining and inspiring underdog story to Paramount+ this holiday season.”
Tanya Giles, Chief Programming Officer, ViacomCBS Streaming
Rumble was among many animated features drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, where it was pushed from January to May 2021, and later to January 2022. Though Paramount did not give a reason about Rumble’s move to streaming, my guess is with their uncertainty about family movies in cinemas due to under-12s still in the process of being vaccinated, and the low box office returns of their hybrid release Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Paramount Animation’s previous film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run also got shifted to Paramount+ as a launch title due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, though it was released internationally on Netflix.
As Paramount+ is only available in the Americas, Nordic countries, and Australia, there’s currently no word from Paramount on how Rumble will be distributed in countries without the service, whether theatrically, digitally, or on local streaming services.
