Nickelodeon acquires Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, created in the 1980s by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, have been bought by Nickelodeon for approximately $60 million.  Nickelodeon plans to develop a new CG animated series with the Turtles, and a new feature film is in the works with Paramount.

Nickelodeon is part of MTV Networks, which is a division of Viacom Inc.  The rights to the Turtles had been owned by The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc.

Nick now owns global intellectual property rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  While the release doesn’t specifically indicate comics, global intellectual property rights would tend to include comic books.

The new animated series is expected to debut in 2012, as is the new motion picture.  Merchandising rights go along with this deal, and Nickelodeon announced it planned to continue to work with longtime Turtles license-holder Playmates Toys.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shares a comedic sensibility with the Nickelodeon DNA, with added layers of action and fantasy that have kept this property an evergreen favorite with multiple generations of audiences,” said Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, in a news release. “We are extremely happy to have the opportunity to be able to focus on this property and creatively re-introduce it to a new generation of kids.”

Paramount noted the Turtles could provide the studio a superhero franchise.