Kid-friendly network Nickelodeon has bought the global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise for approximately $60 million. The long-lived brand is the brainchild of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who conceived the turtles as a parody of the ninja themes that were popular in comic books of the ’80s.
Since then, the characters have been the subject of several cartoons, movies, and video games, spawning a massive line of toys that continues to sell well. A new TV series is planned to debut in 2012, as well as a new feature movie due to release the same year.
Is this a surprising move for Nickelodeon? While they might be best known for shows like “Dora the Explorer” and “SpongeBob Squarepants,” they do feature more action-oriented fare like “The Troop” and “Avatar the Last Airbender,” so it might not seem as far-fetched an inclusion into their existing line-up. Some parents might still feel that a group of weapon-wielding ninjas might be a bit too combative for the network to take on, even if the actual action is blood-free. Obviously, the bottom line for any network is going to be money, so from a pure business standpoint, this just makes simple sense.
