Burbank, California – As the heroes in a half shell celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, Nickelodeon has picked up a fourth season of the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CG-animated series with a 20-episode order. The announcement was made on June 17 by Russell Hicks, President, Content Development and Production, Nickelodeon. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ranked as one of the top five animated series for first quarter across all of television, and in consumer products is a retail success around the world. New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes currently air on Nickelodeon, with season three to debut this fall, and season four slated for fall 2015.
Beginning season three, Seth Green (Robot Chicken) will join the voice cast as Leonardo alongside Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings) as Raphael, Rob Paulsen (Planet Sheen) as Donatello, Greg Cipes (Teen Titans) as Michelangelo, Mae Whitman (Parenthood) as April O’Neil, Hoon Lee (Royal Pains) as Master Splinter and Kevin Michael Richardson (Penguins of Madagascar) as Shredder. Josh Peck (Drake & Josh) is Casey Jones, and Corey Feldman (The Goonies) reoccurs as Slash. The series is executive produced by Ciro Nieli.
“The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been a global hit, maintaining impressive numbers across the network’s ratings and our digital and consumer products platforms,” said Hicks. “While new episodes will continue to debut on Nickelodeon, we look forward to propelling the momentum with a fourth season for our loyal fans.”
On August 8, Paramount Pictures will release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a live-action film starring Megan Fox and Will Arnett, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, written by Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec and Evan Daugherty, and produced by Michael Bay.
Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered September 29, 2012, and was an immediate ratings win, drawing almost 12 million viewers during its premiere weekend. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a global consumer products powerhouse, winning in every category that has hit the shelves to date. It locked first quarter 2014 as the number-one action figure brand, and it has three of the top five action toys across the industry. Additionally, it was the number-one toy for boys at Wal-Mart, Target and Toys“R”Us, and won two TOTY Awards, including top honours for Property of the Year in 2013.
The first global mobile app based on the series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run, launched last June and was number-one among all paid apps in the U.S. and in more than 40 territories around the world. It consistently ranks in the top 10 paid gaming apps on iTunes.
Fans of Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can expect to see newly re-imagined original and franchise characters and villains, and an ooze of guest stars including Danny Trejo, J.B. Smoove, Fred Tatasciore, Jon Heder, Robert Englund and Renae Jacobs in new episodes of season two and three. Roseanne Barr will reprise her role as Kraang Prime.
Armed with new hits across every genre, Nickelodeon finished first quarter 2014 as the number-one network in total day with kids 2-11 and total viewers – marking its second straight quarter at the top and securing its fourth straight monthly win driven by its animation and preschool roster. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is part of Nickelodeon’s successful animation slate which also includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Sanjay and Craig, Breadwinners and Rabbids Invasion.
