Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Nickelodeon to Produce New 'Legends of the Hidden Temple' Series for Quibi

Legends of the Hidden Temple is coming back, but there are more twists in this revival than a temple guard popping out of nowhere.

Whether you’re a Red Jaguar, Blue Barracuda, Green Monkey, Orange Iguana, Purple Parrot, or a Silver Snake, you will be getting a second chance to assemble the Shrine of the Silver Monkey, outsmart the Temple Guards and get out of the Temple before time is up, because Nickelodeon's iconic '90s series Legends of the Hidden Temple is back!


Quibi has announced the reviving and reimagining of Legends of the Hidden Temple, the cherished 90's competition show that included teams competing against one another to retrieve “historical artifacts” in a Mayan-themed temple by performing physical challenges and asking trivia questions, produced by Nickelodeon and Stone & Company. Originally airing from 1993-1999 on Nickelodeon, Legends of the Hidden Temple holds a special place in millennial hearts -- inspiring a movie, mobile games and one of the most popular Halloween costumes every year. During its heyday, Entertainment Weekly described the show as “’Gladiators’ meets ‘Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.’”

This new, supersized, reimagined version will preserve many of the favorite original elements of the show - the contestant-soaking Moat Crossing; Olmec, a disembodied talking stone head; and the game-culminating Temple Run, a maze full of treacherous obstacles where young adolescents would flex their physical and mental prowess - but will see them "grown up" for an audience that's grown up along with them. Instead of being filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, the entire set will be taken out of the studio, into a jungle and scaled up with tougher challenges and bigger prizes on the line.

Superfans, it’s time to get your knee and elbow pads ready; Quibi will soon be looking for contestants to participate in this action-packed competition that promises to test your adventure skills at a whole new level. Enter at your own risk: “The choice is yours and yours alone.”


"Bringing back 'Legends' for Quibi is a dream come true," said Scott A. Stone, Executive Producer. "I have been so lucky to be part of this defining millennial show, and now there is a defining millennial platform to go with it. I couldn't be more excited."

Legends of the Hidden Temple is produced by Nickelodeon and Stone & Company Entertainment (Paradise Run, A Season With, The Mole). The series is executive produced by Scott A. Stone, one of the original creators of the beloved hit.

Based on the game show Legends of the Hidden Temple by David G. Stanley, Scott A. Stone and Stephen R. Brown.

The original Legends of the Hidden Temple game show was originally hosted by Kirk Fogg, with Dee Bradley Baker (SpongeBob SquarePants, American Dad) providing the voice of the all-knowing Olmec. The pair returned and reprised their respective roles for a TV movie inspired by the series (with Michael Benyaer as Olmec’s human form) in 2016. It also featured elements from the show, like the Steps of Knowledge, and featured cameos from animals who lend their names to the competition teams. No word on Fogg or Baker's involvement in the new series.

Quibi, which is set to launch on April 6, 2020, has continued adding content at a blistering pace as the year comes to a close. Last week, Quibi added a new series from Ridley Scott — only days after it added a new show produced by Kris and Kendall Jenner to its slate. Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) also recently joined Peter Farrelly’s comedy series The Now, where he’ll be featured in a recurring role opposite star Dave Franco.

The company, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg (former chief of Dreamworks and Disney) and CEO Meg Whitman, has spent much of 2019 greenlighting dozens of shows from a number of big stars, including Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Lopez, and Stephen Curry, among others. Los Angeles-based Quibi announced last month it had sold out its $150 million advertising inventory for its first year.

Quibi shows will only be available on mobile devices, with each episode running no longer than 10 minutes (aka “quick bites”). The app will cost viewers $4.99 per month for ad-supported viewing, or run $7.99 for ad-free viewing when it debuts next spring.

Regarding the unique format of Quibi's shows — which will all have episodes running only 10 minutes or less — Katzenberg thinks its TV for the next generation.

"I don’t think of this as revolutionary as much as it’s evolutionary, in that you’re combining together these two tested forms of filmed narrative," he previously said, per Vulture. "The first generation was two-hour movies that were created and designed to be watched in a single sitting in a movie theater. And the next generation was these very long, episodic and serialized stories that had either 13 or 26 chapters to them, and they were designed to be watched an hour or half-hour at a time in front of the TV set.

"What Quibi is setting out to do is the next form of film narrative — the convergence of those two ideas together," Katzenberg added. "What we’re doing is telling stories that are two to two and a half hours long in chapters that are seven to ten minutes, with great talent, and designed to be watched on your phone."


When asked if Quibi shows will have multiple seasons or "be self-contained pieces of entertainment, like feature films," Katzenberg explained, "Some of them are closed-in stories that have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and you’re done. And others have the opportunity to have ongoing, continuing seasons [or] … a sequel."


Nickelodeon Network

Legends of the Hidden Temple will join other remakes, like Reno 911, Punk'd, Singled Out with former Nickelodeon star Keke Palmer (True Jackson VP) and The Fugitive, on the short-form, mobile-only platform, which is backed by heavyweight investors such as Disney, 21st Century Fox and Warner Bros, who have invested millions in it.

More Nick: 2020 on Nickelodeon USA | New Shows, Specials, Events, Movies, Episodes, and More!

Originally published: Monday, December 16, 2019 at 20:52 GMT.

Sources: BroadwayWorld, TheWrap, Deadline, E! News (II), PopCulture, The Streamble, Collider, Engadget, Nerdist, Reality Blurred, People, CafeMom, Los Angeles Times.
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