Seems like the 2007 movie was the big gamble that Laird threw everything at... if the movie had been a smash hit, then the TMNT brand proves it is still immensely valuable. After that, maybe Laird continues to helm the ship for a while or maybe he decides to "sell high" and make a bundle from a big company like WB.
But, of course, the film turned out to be only a modest success, not enough of a smash to guarantee another costly sequel. I think the 25th Anniversary Celebration/Cross-Country Tour was Laird's "Plan B," spend a lot of cash on it to ensure that the brand got enough visibility to make sure it could still command a respectable buyout price to whichever company thought it would be a good fit, which turned out to be Nickelodeon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RossMay
By the way, if you're wondering why Viacom: It wasn't just random that they wanted Ninja Turtles. The original airings of the 1987 cartoon were on CBS. Many of the executives who worked at CBS, who saw the old cartoon's success, now run CBS, Nickelodeon and Paramount. To make a funny connection, that's the same reason why Viacom purchased Garfield recently. CBS had the longest relationship with Garfield and Jim Davis.
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Nice tibit, Ross! I had never thought about the CBS-connection with the old cartoon had any bearing on the 2009 acquisition, but that's very interesting that Viacom was motivated to acquire both TMNT and Garfield when those are the two shows I most associated with the early 1990s CBS Saturday Morning block!