Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles global rights sold to Nickelodeon for $60 million
From Nikki Finke:
Viacom’s Nickelodeon announced today it has acquired the global
intellectual property rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from
The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment. The purchase price was about
$60 million. Nickelodeon also announced plans to develop a new
CG-animated television series based on the popular superhero franchise
for 2012. Also, in partnership with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures, a new
release of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature film is also planned for 2012. Nickelodeon has also acquired all merchandising rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
and will continue to work with its original and long-standing toy
partner, Playmates Toys, which has been the creative force behind the
TMNT master toy program over the last two decades. The deal was done by
Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group,
and Adam Goodman, the president of Paramount Pictures.
Not bad for a little black and white comic from the 80s.
By "global intellectual property rights" does this mean that neither Eastman or Laird are able to do any new TMNT material? Or does this just cover the non-comicbook media (films, animation, games)?I mean, good for E&L that they are set for life (if they hadn't been already) but it would have been nice to see some new Turtle stuff from the men who brought them to life.
Quite probably they could, under contract.
I cannot believe that the mirage group would sell tmnt to nick, i loved the show!!!