Deadline reports that Paramount has added Thomas Lennon to the cast of its upcoming film Monster Trucks. Monster Trucks will utilize both live actors and animation, and will star Lennon Danny Glover, Jane Levy, Amy Ryan, Lucas Till, and Holt McCallany. Chris Wedge (Ice Age) will direct the script by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, and Derek Connolly.
Paramount has not given any details about the story though the creative team hired for this project suggests the studio wants a family-friendly franchise-starter. While Wedge only directed the first Ice Age, he has stayed on as a producer all the way through to the upcoming Ice Age 5 for 2016. Meanwhile, Thomas Lennon has frequently collaborated with Robert Ben Garant, his co-host for Comedy Central’s @midnight, as the writing team behind The Pacifier and the Night at the Museum films. According to the Deadline article, Lennon will only appear in Monster Trucks as an actor, though he will have a “significant” role.
Monster Trucks will be Paramount Animation’s second feature film after Spongebob Squarepants 2, which released in February of this year. According to a Variety article from 2012, Paramount Animation will have access to Nickelodeon’s intellectual properties. Does this mean we could see an animated (and hopefully better) film adaptation of the hit TV series Avatar if Paramount Animation does well? We can only hope.
Monster Trucks will release on May 29, 2015.