The MTV cult classic claymation comedy Celebrity Deathmatch is being revived by MTV and Ice Cube.
Announced by MTV Studios, this reimagining of the show is being executive produced by Ice Cube and his production company Cube Vision, along with series creator Eric Fogel. Ice Cube will also lend voice talent in a lead role, and more voice talent will be announced soon.
The show originally ran from 1998-2002, and again from 2006-2007, skewering celebrities, politicians, pop-icons and more. A weekly series, this revival will air exclusively for a currently undecided subscription video-on-demand service, or a premium broadcast partner sometime in 2019. This reportedly marks the first step in “reinventing” the franchise across games, consumer products and more.
Ice Cube, who is currently producing Hip Hop Squares for MTV’s sister-brand VH1, said that he is “Happy to once again be working with Viacom and MTV on a fan favorite like Celebrity Deathmatch and to continue our success together.”
“We’re excited to grow our partnership with Ice Cube and Cube Vision to reimagine this fan favorite,” said Chris McCarthy, president of MTV, VH1 and CMT. “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.”
MTV released a Celebrity Deathmatch game back in 2003. In our review, we called it “Mediocre” saying we “wouldn’t recommend picking this up unless you’re a determined Celebrity Deathmatch collector.” A soundtrack was also released for the game, called Celebrity Deathmatch: Soundtrack For The Slaughter.
Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.