Nickelodeon Animation Reaches Across Platforms to Boost Franchises
Andrew Barker Senior Features Writer Ramsey Naito has been running Nickelodeon Animation since 2017, and in that time the network’s programming has exploded with a raft of both homegrown series and adaptations of external IP. “Star Trek,” “SpongeBob,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Blue’s Clues,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Rugrats”… if that seems like too much for one network to handle, well, it no longer has to. Last fall, Naito added running Paramount Animation to her docket, and since then, the scope of potential programming across the corporate-partnered Nickelodeon networks, Paramount+ and Paramount theatrical has given the network increased space to expand. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” — the Seth Rogen-produced feature spun off from Nick’s revamped “Turtles” animated series — is due out next summer. Nickelodeon feature films from “PAW Patrol,” “Blue’s Clues” and “Baby Shark” are also on the horizon, as well as new features from Paramount properties “Transformers” and “Smurfs.” For Naito, this glut of programming presents opportunities.