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With ‘Mighty Mouse’ reboot, Paramount is here to save the franchise

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EXCLUSIVE: With ‘Alvin & the Chipmunks’ showing that a classic animated property can have a prosperous life on the modern film screen, Paramount is pushing forward with a reboot of ‘Mighty Mouse.’

The project, based on the vintage cartoon about a crime-fighting super-mouse (which will surely get a modern spin) has been in development for several years at Paramount and its Nickelodeon Movies label. A number of writers have taken stabs at a script over that time, including the Gunn brothers (Brian and Mark), who also count the ‘Journey to the Center of Earth’ sequel among their credits.

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But the studio has, over the last few months, been seeking both a new writer and a new director for ‘Mouse,’ with a number of up-and-comers on the list. We’’ll keep you posted when they’re hired, but the very fact of development momentum is noteworthy. Paramount has had success distributing DreamWorks Animation’s films – the studio currently has the hit ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ out in theaters -- but also has made the most of its few forays into animation production. ‘The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,’ a Paramount/Nick collaboration, earned $140 million worldwide back in 2004 (and that was long before the 3-D and hybrid live/animation crazes hit full bore, which could give a jolt to this one if the studio went that way).
‘Mighty Mouse’ also has plenty of name recognition. The Terrytoons cartoon was a staple on Saturday morning television from the 1950s to the 1980s, meaning that pretty much anyone over the age of 30 is familiar with it (here are those theme-song lyrics, if they’re not lodged in your head already; Mr. Trouble, indeed, never hangs around when he hears that mighty sound).

But how studio executes update the property will be a key question. The original 1940s ‘Mighty Mouse’ comic was designed as a a satire of the then-popular ‘Superman,’ a kind of subversive postmodern creation before entertainment (and most of the world) was familiar with subversive postmodern creations. Producers could still go that way -- especially in an era when big Marvel and DC superheroes are themselves getting subversive treatments -- though part of the reason to do a movie like ‘Mighty Mouse’ in the first place is its broad, family-oriented appeal.
That said, there are plenty of cartoon staples here that writers can play with -- love interests like Mitzi and Pearl Pureheart, the villainous cat Oil Can Harry and the main character’s ability to save the day with the help of his superpowers, to name a few. Hey, if so many of our other childhood memories are getting re-imagined by the Dream Factory, the yellow-costumed one might as well get re-imagined too.

--Steven Zeitchik

Follow me on Twitter.

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