Paramount Animation Partners With WWE To Develop The Will Arnett-Starring 'Rumble'

Let's get ready to...well, you know the drill. But there's not anything routine about Paramount Animation, the still-fairly untested animation division of Paramount Pictures behind films like Wonder Park and Sherlock Gnomes. But Paramount Animation is starting to kick things into gear in 2020, partnering up with WWE Studios for a new film called Rumble.

The Wrap reports that Paramount is teaming up with WWE Studios to develop the animated comedy film Rumble, which is set to star Will Arnett, Terry Crews, and Geraldine Viswanathan alongside WWE wrestlers Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns. Here is the logline for the film, according to The Wrap:

The movie is set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes. Winnie seeks to follow in her father's footsteps by coaching an underdog monster into a wrestling champion.

The movie is set to be directed by Hamish Grieve and produced by Mark Bakshi and Brad Booker, with Susan Levison and Richard Lowell serving as executive producers for WWE Studios. Rumble is Paramount Animation's latest effort to ramp up their output in 2020, with other films on the studio's slate being the live-action/animated hybrids Sonic the Hedgehog, The Spongebob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. In the eight years since its founding, the Paramount animation division has only released four films, none of which reached major critical success. Its biggest hit was its first animated film, 2015's 3D-animated/live-action hybrid The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which grossed $325 million worldwide. But it seems like Paramount is beginning to put stock in its animated division, even if the upcoming slate doesn't seem quite that promising — with the exception of Sonic, which has already reached viral meme status. (But not for the best reasons.)

Perhaps a star-studded venture with animated comedy stalwart Will Arnett leading the cast could give Paramount Animation the boost it needs. Arnett has proven to be a gifted voice actor in films like The Lego Movie and the Lego Batman franchises. THR reports that Tony Danza, Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Schwartz, and famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer are also going to be a part of the cast. Meanwhile, WWE Studios continued its expansion into Hollywood with the well-received MGM biopic Fighting With My Family from earlier this year.

Rumble is currently set for a summer 2020 release.