WarnerMedia’s Rooster Teeth Studios is developing an HBO Max animated series based on BOOM! Studios' Slam! comic books.
Slam! is described by WarnerMedia as "an adult animated half-hour series set in the fast-paced, hard-hitting, super cheeky, all-female world of banked track roller derby, following two young women who will have to decide if their budding friendship is stronger than the pull of a team when a win is on the line." The show will be brought to life using a "groundbreaking combination" of rotoscoped and 3D animation, taking viewers into the sport of roller derby "in a way never visualized on screen before."
HBO Max's Slam! will be written and executive produced by Pamela Ribon, who co-created the graphic novels with Veronica Fish in 2016. Ribon also wrote the followup comic book series Slam! The Next Jam in 2017, featuring illustrations by Fish and Marina Julia.
Outside of the comic book industry, Ribon is known for co-writing Disney's 2016 animated film Moana and the sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet, in addition to Sony's 2017 animated feature Smurfs: The Lost Village. She's also attached to co-direct the film My Boyfriend is a Bear for Legendary and Atlas Entertainment, based on the 2018 graphic novel Ribon co-created with Cat Farris. Prior to its closure, Ribon was serving as the writer for Disney/Blue Sky Studios' animated feature adaptation of Noelle Stevenson's critically-acclaimed fantasy webcomic series Nimona.
"I'm so fortunate to have the coolest, talented-est, Austin-est animation studios in the world partnering to bring SLAM! to life as a television series,” said Ribon. “[Senior Vice President of Original Animation] Billy Wee and the team at HBO Max geeked out just as hard as we did when talking about where this could go in storytelling and animation. That's when we knew we'd found the perfect home. We're so excited to make this rough and tumble, emotional, honest show about what it means to surrender your life (and your knees!) to roller derby."
Besides Slam!, BOOM! Studios is known for comic book series like Lumberjanes, which is currently being adapted into an HBO Max animated special and TV show executive produced and co-written by Stevenson, who also co-created the graphic novels. More recently, BOOM! Studios debuted BRZRKR, a "brutally violent" comic book series about Berzerker, a centuries-old "half-mortal and half-God, cursed and compelled to violence... even at the sacrifice of his sanity." BRZRKR is written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, with artwork by Alessandro Vitti.
Source: WarnerMedia/BOOM! Studios