Huge News: Nickelodeon Acquires Global Rights to the TMNT

[sdp]

Who knows maybe 4kids can no longer even air TMNT as soon as the deal is over.

IMO 4kids got the best out of this, they got 10 million just for owning the license that would have expired in 2012 anyway. And 4kids was done with the franchise pretty much already and so was playmates so they wouldn't get much from merch licensing

[plastroncafe]

I'm still in shock and reeling.
On the one hand I'm mourning the loss of the B&W comics, but on the other...I'm kind of stoked about the animation potential. I mean, Nick has always been pretty progressive about their cartoons. Ren and Stimpy, Invader Zim, Avatar...

If nothing else this totally explains why the "Turtles Forever" theater deal was tanked.

Man, I kind of want to drive out to Mirage and buy the guys a round.

[Cowabunga Kiefer]

I just think Nick is running out of ideas. Some of their shows are just one failure after another. Hopefully they don't ruin the TMNT industry as well. At least they'll get more attention from the young audience...but I hope the plot lines make sense!

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by sdp

I know someone like Roseangelo will say this is the death of the franchise but they have been "hating" on pretty much whatever TMNT related is not up to their personal expectations. This deal has pros and cons and it is not the death of the franchise, in fact TMNT could be bigger than its ever been in recent years.

WTF? Don't speak for me.

I haven't figured out how I feel about this, as I see both pros and cons. But I don't expect it to be the "death of the franchise" when Nickelodeon has proven they know what they're doing time and time again.

[Sanjuro]

Originally Posted by sdp

Fans of the comic book aren't that many, the sales of V.4 and tales account to that, not to mention comic books is a dying medium even the big two Marvel/DC don't sell that many comics.

And no this good news in the longevity of the franchise, theres no way Viacom is going to go down, and they didn't just buy the property to sit on it. Mirage could have easily gone bankrupt while not so much for Viacom. Also we didn't know when the series would get a new tv show or anything, now we're getting one in 2012.

I know someone like Roseangelo will say this is the death of the franchise but they have been "hating" on pretty much whatever TMNT related is not up to their personal expectations. This deal has pros and cons and it is not the death of the franchise, in fact TMNT could be bigger than its ever been in recent years.


This is also good news for potential Venus fans

I've already stated fans of the comic book aren't that many, but it is still a very popular medium with the remaining die-hard fanbase. The rest of that base are largely a casual nostalgic audience. They have marketed the series to the younger audience the last few years and it has worked/not worked in various ways, but ultimately not anything significant. Again I'm no fool. I'm in my twenties now and I understand 100% I'm not the target audience of the intended franchise now.

Like I said this will be great a few years down the road when the projects are out. However, not having any sort of freedoms at Mirage once this dead horse is beaten there will be nothing left. Laird would have been able to license out the series to other artists/writers/etc. on occasion and there would be some bread for the fans.

It also should be noted that MTV is NOT Disney. If Disney or the Warners ended up with the franchise at a reasonable price then this would be a much better story. MTV has no track record or the long term needs for a franchise like this in all likelihood. At least with the other two they have several outlets for the franchise even when there is no significant project available.

In the long run this is not good. At all. Period.

[ajistheman]

wow, great news in being able to bring a new cartoon so quickly. 2012 is a good timetable to start a new cartoon series, without making it feel rushed and incomplete.
But am I reading this? Viacom is purchasing full turtles rights? so they bought them from mirage? They aren't business partners?
please answer my question if you are legally able to, tmnt4kids! (thanks if you can)

hopefully, they pick a good video game company to make some new games too. and hopefully they have rights to use characters from any universe

since I'm guessing that Mirage is sold in complete...I just wanted to say

Happy Retirement Peter Laird, thanks for co-creating one of my favorite things in life!

[Powder]

I'm just shocked.. my initial reaction was a big grin but then my brain woke up.. too.. many... pros...cons..tooo......

[Nelson]

What the? This is so sudden! Where does this leave Mirage? Does Nickelodeon own the comic now?

I'm confused.
This probably destroys any chance of having a more mature TMNT TV/movie incarnation.

[Master Splinter]

Originally Posted by sdp

Who knows maybe 4kids can no longer even air TMNT as soon as the deal is over.

Taken from the release...

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series--jointly produced by 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage Studios—will continue to air on “TheCW4Kids” Saturday morning programming block on The CW network through Aug. 31, 2010.

-mm

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by Powder

I'm just shocked.. my initial reaction was a big grin but then my brain woke up.. too.. many... pros...cons..tooo......

I think we are all like that right now.

Also WTH there's more than one thread for this topic.

[The Terror of Death]

Although I've enjoyed numerous Nickelodeon cartoons throughout the years I cant really say I love any of them, with the exception of Avatar. The new cartoon being CG instead of 2d doesn't really sit well with me either, even though I'm well aware animation quality doesn't reflect writing quality. While it may end up being a good cartoon, I seriously doubt it will blow me away like 2k3 did.

[TMNT4kids]

Originally Posted by missourimobile

Taken from the release...

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated television series--jointly produced by 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage Studios—will continue to air on “TheCW4Kids” Saturday morning programming block on The CW network through Aug. 31, 2010.

-mm

The blog etc will continue until then as well. I will try to finish up the whole thing.

[The Shelf]

I am both delighted and sad. On the one hand, we'll be getting another new take on the TMNT; but on the other hand, Volume 4 really probably won't get finished now. Although... Maybe Laird will actually have the time to finish it now so long as he's still allowed to.

[Adam Riches]

I don't even know what to say right now...but I'll try and articulate my current feelings as best as possible.

Mirage has been probably the biggest single inspirational story for me as an illustrator. Like all of us, I've grown up a TMNT fan. Over the last few years though when I truly think about the significance of Peter and Kevin's success it has been so inspiring to me on a personal level. Seeing Pete post all of his various illustration work (pre-TMNT) on his blog has been really eye-opening to me, to show that he didn't just strike oil and he really busted his ass before this good fortune found him, and it's something I constantly remind myself when I don't feel like things are turning out the way I want them to.

When Pete bought Kevin out, I wasn't happy about it because it was like splitting up the dynamic-duo in my eyes. These were the combination of people that made the magic of TMNT occur and without them it would no longer thrive, but low and behold Peter did a pretty good job keeping things afloat. I'd be lying if I said I agreed with all the decisions made since 2003, but the bottom line is he kept the franchise alive that we all know and love. He was loyal to his friends/fellow Mirage employees and made this a worthwhile franchise to continue following.

...but now the sale. I can't say I'm feeling great about this at the moment. The reason being because even if you didn't always agree with the direction things went as far as toy/comic/cartoon/etc. The one positive thing you could always say was that they were still owned and maintained independently by one of the people that created them, and as such you knew the property was cared for and that the current incarnation was simply a continued labor of love for the fans sake.

It's hard for me to believe the TMNT that I've sort of always viewed as the "little engine that could", is now owned by a corporate juggernaut. There are most certainly pros and cons. Off the top of my head the biggest pro is that we will see a resurgence of some kind sooner than later, because Viacom would not have spent the money I'm sure they did, if they didn't want results, they aren't just going to sit on this.

The cons of which I'm thinking there are many more of at the moment...are that this may have likely just unemployed the Mirage staff (which personally makes me sick to my stomach, because I've really come to know and on some level become friends with them). Also I think that this will likely just be a case of obtaining a popular franchise to add to their portfolio and not necessarily loved and cared for the same way it would have been in the hands of Mirage, the only thing that will make it falsely appear as though they do is because we'll see larger results due to their financial backing that Mirage didn't possess. Lastly I don't foresee this lasting more than a few years before they take them to obscurity again as Nick properties don't tend to have more than 5 year shelf lives, unless they are crazy successful ala Spongebob.

Oh and one last thing...good bye chances at PG-13 movie, I barely knew you. This has been some 25th anniversary!

[Master Splinter]

Originally Posted by Sanjuro Tsubaki

MTV has no track record or the long term needs for a franchise like this in all likelihood. At least with the other two they have several outlets for the franchise even when there is no significant project available.

What about Spongebob? Isn't he celebrating 10 years this year? That is pretty significant for a yellow square who wears underpants on the outside of his clothes... I don't see Nick putting SB in the vault anytime soon... He is a cash cow...



I tried to make something quick with a couple characters from Nick I've always liked...

-mm

edit*** sorry it was Doug's Quail Man that did the underpants outside of his clothes...

[U2WaTCHer]

wow does that mean the new show is over

Does this mean mirage and laird have nothing to do with tmnt from this point on and its not like how 4kids just got to show the show but they have full creative control compared to how it is now?

[rayfillet101]

so this means no new season. I really hope 2k3 gets a good sendoff- Blogs, stickers...cuz after august 2010-im dont with 4kids

[Andrew NDB]

The only aspect of the TMNT I find endearing anymore or care about is the comics, and it sounds like those were dead anyway by the middle of next year.

Though what bothers me is that now, even if, say, Peter or guys at Mirage wanted to one day publish some random special or mini... now they have to ask a little kids company their permission.

So yes. A little bit disappointing that Peter bought out Kevin only to... sell the whole thing off to a big corporation. But we'll see what happens.

[hudemx]

mmh one quick question:

CG animated: Does that mean its gonna be completly Computer generatat ala Beast Wars & Beast Machines or will there be still some traditional 2D animation?

[Andrew NDB]

This probably destroys any chance of having a more mature TMNT TV/movie incarnation.

It doesn't destroy the chance of having a more mature TMNT TV/movie incarnation (let's face it, the last movie and most of the cartoon... that isn't very hard to do)... it just probably destroys the chance of having an actually mature TMNT TV/movie incarnation.