Talking to advertisers Wednesday, Nickelodeon unveiled its upcoming lineup of programs, including a live-action TV movie that took inspiration from "Legends of the Hidden Temple," a game show in the 1990s.
As kids from the '90s grew up and adopted social media, interest in the network's library has grown, with the clamor for reboots growing louder and louder. Aside from simply listening to requests from older fans, reviving certain concepts will also hopefully capture new audiences in the form of these fans' children.
"There's a tremendous amount of attention on kids these days. What that says is there's a tremendous amount of opportunity ... There is just more content everywhere," said Cyma Zarghami, Viacom president for cable networks geared toward families and kids. Nickelodeon is one of Viacom's media networks.
She's also keen on making sure that every viewer is turned into a fan so the network can continue having a conversation with the audience as they keep talking about shows long after an episode has ended.
Mirroring the original game show's theme, the "Legends of the Hidden Temple" TV movie will star three siblings on a mission to conquer a number of obstacles if they want to stay alive.
Set for a release in the last quarter of 2016, the revival will also feature key elements from the game show, including Olmec, a talking stone head who knows the temple's secrets; the Steps of Knowledge, the starting point for missions and the entrance to the temple; and appearances from the silver snakes, red jaguars and green monkeys, among others.
The "Legends of the Hidden Temple" TV movie will star Isabela Moner from "100 Things to Do Before High School," another Nickelodeon show. It will be directed by Joe Menendez, who will working from a script written by Alex Reid, Zach Hyatt and Jonny Umansky.
"Legends of the Hidden Temple" will be joined by another TV movie, a two-parter based on "Hey Arnold!," another hit from the network which ran from 1996 to 2004.
Photo: Chris Hamby | Flickr
