Rugrats scribe Jon Cooksey has been hired to script the an animated feature film based on the ground-breaking 1994 CG television series ReBoot. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be the first in a trilogy to be produced by Rainmaker Animation, which acquired ReBoot originator MainFrame Ent. in 2006.
The original ReBoot children’s series was the first 3D program on television. The show lasted four seasons on ABC and Cartoon Network in the U.S. and on YTV in Canada, and was eventually seen in 70 countries around the world. The seies remains one of YTV’s top-rated programs and helped to establish Mainframe Ent. as a leading computer animation studio.
In furthering the development of the revamped ReBoot, Rainmaker entered into a strategic alliance with Zeros 2 Heroes, a social network for comic-book fans. Five undiscovered writers were selected to work with the professionals at Rainmaker to develop their own pitches for a new storyline. The pitches were posted on www.zeros2heroes.com in July of 2007, allowing fans to vote for their favorites and provide feedback. The result was a new web comic titled Paradigms Lost from writer Jeff Campbell, producer Shea Wageman, artist Shaun Martens and designer Kelly Schmidt.
The first feature film is being overseen by Rainmaker Animation exec vp Paul Gertz. He tells the Reporter that the studio will continue to engage the fans in guiding the direction of the franchise. Rainmaker is also busy at work on its first theatrical feature, Escape From Plant Earth. Happy Feet exec producer Ed Jones is producing and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End lead animator Steve Nichols is directing animation for the family flick, which was written by Tony Leech and Cory Edwards, the writing team behind The Weinstein Co.’s indie animation hit Hoodwinked. The Weinstein Co. is handling financing and worldwide distribution for Escape From Planet Earth, which involves an alien prison break from Area 51.
