A new reboot of the classic Cartoon Network animated series Futurama. At the same time, the curation of classic cartoon properties by HBO Max, Hulu and Disney+ has allowed kids and adults alike to access their nostalgic favorites.
The original run of The Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2005, and was a major success for the Turner-run channel, appealing to both boys and girls alike by balancing the girl-power themes with action, humor and heart. The adventures of Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and their father, Professor Utonium, saving the day in Townsville spawned a theatrical film in 2002, and remained a fan-favorite for kids growing up in the '90s and 2000s. While subsequent attempts to revive the property, both with a 2016 reboot made without McCracken and a live-action Powerpuff Girls pilot for the CW in 2020, were met with varying levels of success, for the original PPG run remained.
Now, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe has announced McCracken is returning to develop a new reboot of The Powerpuff Girls. The PPG reboot is one of two projects the press release announces McCracken's supervision on, with the other being a preschool-engineered reboot of his Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Both projects will be supervised by Sarah Fell, who is working on a number of Hanna-Barbera projects for HBO Max at the moment. Read a statement from Cartoon Network Studios president Sam below:
"The Hanna-Barbera homecoming of Craig was an opportunity we could not up. Along with his unparalleled sense of fun and imagination, he’s bringing two of his greatest works in The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and we are so excited for these characters to be a part of the new legacy taking shape at the studio.”
Interest in the Powerpuff Girls has grown since the original series was added to HBO Max in 2020, along with several of its Cartoon Network contemporaries from the late '90s and early 2000s, including Ed, Edd and Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Reboots of both KND and Billy and Mandy have been suggested by their respective creators, Mr. Warburton and Maxwell Atoms, though both projects failed to greenlight at Cartoon Network or HBO Max for various reasons. Alternatively, the previous reboot of PPG was received poorly due to the dissonance between the original property and the new audience the network was gearing it towards.
Keeping that in mind, a PPG reboot with McCracken at the helm could represent a new direction for Warner/CN's approach to rebooting their own classic IPs. Perhaps a successful launch of this PPG project could lead to other reboots and revivals of other CN shows. Meanwhile, McCracken returns to CN for the first time in 13 years with this project after working with Netflix on Kid Cosmic. With this understanding of what works in other markets as well as what works on streaming, McCracken could engineer the type of PPG reboot that he wants, as well as the one that fans want, while also keeping network interest in mind. It's a complicated secret formula, but if anyone knows a thing or two about those, it's the man who created The Powerpuff Girls.
Source: Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe