Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, because it’s lasagna time for Nickelodeon. Today Viacom acquired Paws, Inc. which holds the licensing rights to ‘Garfield’ and ‘Open Acres’. The Jim Davis creations will now move from Cartoon Network to Nick for a planned animated series.
The deal also includes merchandising rights and “location based experiences” (we’re looking at you SDCC!) Word is that Jim Davis will still be creating the comic strip, so business as usual there. Everything else looks like it will be handled by Nickelodeon. Boom! Studios had been publishing ‘Garfield’ comic books under the Kaboom imprint. No word on whether or not that would change. My guess is that it will remain the same, as Boom has published several other Nickelodeon properties recently.
Here is what Davis had to say in a statement released by Viacom, “I’m delighted that Garfield is going to be placed in the capable hands of the folks at Nick. They know how to entertain and will be great stewards for the franchise. I am also excited to continue to do the thing that gets me out of bed every morning…the comic strip!”
My one hope is that Nick takes Garfield back to his roots of ‘Garfield & Friends’ from the 80s, and not the more recent CG iterations. Making the animation style match up to the comic strip always made more sense to me. There is precedent for this, as ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ and ‘The Loud House’ are both done in a more traditional style. Bottom line is, we’re getting more Garfield and that is a good thing. That cat has been eating John Arbuckle out of house and home since 1978. It will be nice to be able to re-introduce him to an all new generation.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, and should be finalized in the coming days.
Photo Credit: Boom! Studio