Nickelodeon Acquires Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Today, Nickelodeon announced that it has acquired the global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from The Mirage Group and 4 Kids Entertainment.  The rights were sold for roughly $60 million, and include all future rights to the franchise in numerous departments, including television and video games.  (The deal should have no effect on the previously released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up and Reshelled games.)

With the deal, Nickelodeon has announced that a new CG-animated series is in the works, set to premiere sometime in 2012.  It is possible that the studio is already hard at work on producing a video game to premiere with the series, although nothing has yet been confirmed.  Considering the popularity of the franchise, however, it would not be a surprise.

“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 of Nickelodeon/MTV Kids and Family Group.  “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.”

It’s certainly a shell shock to the system for some folks, though.  First Disney acquires Marvel, and now this.  Do you think this is a great move for the franchise, or are we in for a lukewarm serving of Turtle soup?