‘Baby Shark’ Renewed for Season 2, Feature Film in Works at Nickelodeon (Exclusive)

Nickelodeon is diving deeper into the world of Baby Shark.

The ViacomCBS outlet has renewed Baby Shark’s Big Show for a second season and is also in the early stages of developing a feature film based on the pop culture phenomenon. The preschool series is midway through its 26-episode first season (season two will feature the same number of installments) and was the second most watched show among kids 5 and under in the second quarter of 2021, behind only Nickelodeon’s Paw Patrol.

“It all started with a great song and grew from there,” Nickelodeon Animation president Ramsey Naito told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “It’s so exciting that we get to build on that success with a huge event [in the feature film], which we’re just starting to talk about.”

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The movie will be co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation and SmartStudy, the company behind Pinkfong — the kids’ entertainment brand that made the “Baby Shark” song a pop culture phenomenon. Though it’s in the early stages, Naito and Pinkfong USA CEO Bin Jeong told THR that they want to further expand the Baby Shark character’s world in the film.

“We’re super excited to introduce Baby Shark’s very first movie with Nickelodeon,” said Jeong. “It will be an opportunity for us to introduce new events in Baby Shark’s life that haven’t been explored before. It will still be within the core world, but it’s an opportunity for us to see what else we can do.”

Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark” video is the most viewed YouTube video of all time, currently at 8.9 billion views. Jeong said there’s a “bit of magic” to the way it caught on across languages, countries and age groups.

“You can do everything right and still not hit that [level]. So it’s a little bit of magic,” said Jeong. “But when we try to analyze it, first of all it’s based on a traditional singalong chant, and we gave a fresh twist to it. We gave it a more modern, pop-like melody and beat. And also behind the song there was the character of Baby Shark and his family that people instantly fell in love with.”

That was also a big part of the appeal for Nickelodeon, said Naito: “We want to be the home of great IP that speaks to kids and families everywhere. So when we entered into a partnership with Pinkfong, we immediately started building out a storyline that appeals to families.

“We knew the song would attract everyone, because everyone knows about it. But we felt like the show really centered around Baby Shark and his family, his community, his group of friends, and in building that family, we also built friend characters, … villains and supervillains that create conflict and growth within these great relationships. It’s a long way of saying this all started with a song that appealed to everyone, and we felt like was an opportunity to tell a story that fit perfectly within a preschool demo and appealed to families.”

Gary “Doodles” DiRaffaele and Tommy Sica executive produce Baby Shark’s Big Show, with Whitney Ralls serving as co-executive producer. Eryk Casemiro, senior vp Nickelodeon Preschool, oversees production; Nickelodeon Animation Studio produces.