Viva forever: Spice Girls set to return to cinemas in new animated film

The quintet will be turned into superheroes in a movie touted to hit screens next year

Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell, aka the Spice Girls, pictured in 1996. Getty Images

Prepare to spice up your life once more come 2020, as British girl band The Spice Girls are set to return to the big screen.

The chart-topping group will be the focus of an animated movie that is in the works at Paramount.

The film is reportedly based on an idea the band had themselves, and will feature the voices of all five members of the original band and a plot in which the quintet become superheroes.

It will be produced by the band's former manager Simon Fuller. Fuller is also the creator of the Idol franchise – including the UK's Pop Idol, the USA's American Idol and the Middle East's Arab Idol, and Billboard's "most successful British music manager of all time". It will be written by Karen McCullah and Kiwi Smith, whose credits include The House Bunny and Legally Blonde. A director is not yet attached.

The film will reportedly feature original hits from the group as well as bespoke songs and is said to be a passion project for the band. Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria told The Hollywood Reporter that the band "had an idea that we've been developing. They are very involved."

The Spice Girls were first formed in 1994 and found global success from 1996 with songs including Wannabe and Who Do U Think You Are? They have sold 85 million records worldwide and are the bestselling female group of all time.

A reunion tour featuring Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton kicked off last month. Fifth Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was unavailable for the tour, but is involved with the latest film project.

The Spice Girls' first film, 1997's live-action comedy Spice World, took $151 million (Dh554m) at the global box office and $100m in DVD sales despite being critically panned.

The new Spice Girls film is due for release in 2020, and is one of a number of new cartoons on the slate from the studio, including a new SpongeBob Squarepants film and Jersey Crabs, a Grease-like musical about warring crustaceans.