MTV
Networks/Photofest; Inset: Michael Bezjian/Getty Images
for Black Santa/BIG3
'Celebrity Deathmatch' (Inset: Ice Cube)
by
Lesley Goldberg
Ice
Cube will executive produce and lead the voice cast
for the revival, which will be shopped to streaming,
cable and broadcast networks.
MTV Studios continues to mine its vault with the hopes
of delivering a hit for a platform outside of Viacom.
The
studio arm of the Viacom-owned cable network is reviving
Celebrity Deathmatch, with Ice Cube joining as an
executive producer and lead member of the voice cast.
An outlet is not yet attached; MTV Studios will shop
the revival to streaming, cable and broadcast networks.
Celebrity
Deathmatch is following the same strategy the June-launched
MTV Studios used for its revival of The Real World,
which ultimately was picked up to series at Facebook
Watch. It's part of a larger plan from Viacom CEO
Bob Bakish to give new life to some of its better-known
properties as a part of a company-wide mandate to
further monetize library content as the media conglomerate
looks to bolster its bottom line.
The
stop-motion satire that took aim at stars, politicians
and everyone in between was created by Eric Fogel,
who will exec produce the revival alongside Cube and
his Cube Vision partner Jeff Kwatinetz, with the company's
Ben Hurwitz on board as a co-EP. Additional showrunners
and talent will be named later.
MTV
Studios, overseen by MTV president Chris McCarthy,
hopes to produce Deathmatch for a third-party outlet
in 2019 as part of a larger reinvention that Viacom
hopes will include consumer products, gaming, theatrical
and more. MTV Studios has also made other hits from
its vault, including Daria, Aeon Flux and Made, available
as part of its library push. The Real World thus far
is the only series to land a distributor.
Deathmatch
extends MTV's relationship with Ice Cube, who also
exec produces Hip Hop Squares for MTV corporate sibling
VH1.
"We’re
excited to grow our partnership with Ice Cube and
Cube Vision to reimagine this fan favorite,”
said McCarthy, who recently added oversight of Viacom's
CMT to his purview that includes MTV, VH1 and Logo.
“Deathmatch was the meme before memes, remains
a hot topic on social media and will be a smart, funny
way to tackle the over-the-top rhetoric of today’s
pop culture where it belongs — in the wrestling
ring."
Deathmatch
ran for six seasons (totaling 93 episodes) from 1998-2002,
and with a revival running from 2006-2007 on MTV2,
featuring stop-motion versions of celebrities like
Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest facing off in a boxing
ring. The series became a pop culture phenomenon,
complete with a video game. MTV2 attempted to revive
the show a third time and filmed a pilot in 2015,
but the new take was passed over a year later.
Ice
Cube is repped by WME. Fogel is with Gotham Group.
