Kidscreen Magazine is reporting in its November issue that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which sold over 3.5 million comics and $4 billion dollars in merchandise in the decade between 1983 and 1993, are set to make a small screen comeback. Mirage Studio has inked a deal with Warner Brothers animation that could result in a TMNT cel-animated TV series on the air by the fall of 2002. Turtle creator Peter Laird is also publishing a black-and-white TMNT comic this December -- the first in a new series of bimonthly Turtle adventures that pick up where the last TMNT comic left off some 15 years ago.
Also under development are a CGI/live action mini-series from Hallmark Entertainment that is scheduled for 2003 and 2004 as well as an all CGI-animated TMNT feature from director John Woo's Digital Rim Entertainment (see 'John Woo to Develop TMNT Film') that probably won't reach theaters until 2004. The question is can the Turtles recapture the magic that made this reptilian quartet so popular with the previous generation of kids. Playmates, the toy company that rocketed from obscurity to prominence due to its original TMNT license is signed up for another five years, so if a new version of the Turtles does manage to reach the small screen next year, there should be plenty of new Turtle toys available.
