Worldwide Biggies, a digital studio recently opened by longtime Nickelodeon and Spike executive Albie Hecht, has acquired all rights to Simon & Schuster’s long-running Tom Swift book series.
The company plans to introduce the franchise with a feature film and video game and follow with episodes for TV and the Web. Hecht used a similar pattern for “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” which opened as a film while he was head of Nick Movies and soon segued into an estimable run as a TV series.
Worldwide Biggies is in talks with potential partners — directors, producers and/or studios — so some of the decisions about how the Swift series will be put onscreen will be made after that partnership is set.
Swift, a teenage genius born into a family of inventors, has had a wide following for decades, spanning some 100-plus installments in numerous genres. At its core has always been young Tom’s knack for problem solving and fantastical inventions.
