YouTube Red has expanded its original family line-up with Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force, a title based on the popular fruit-slicing video game. Premiering Friday on YouTube and the YouTube Kids App, Frenzy Force is a 13-episode series produced by the game’s developer, Halfbrick Studios.
This animated series follows the humble beginnings of Seb, Niya, Peng and Ralph, four fruit ninjas who run a juice stand as a front for their secret ninja dojo. These youngsters have been training to unlock the ancient secrets of Juice-Jitsu but will put their skills to the test when a time portal opens, transporting a 10,000-year-old ninja bent on destruction into the modern world.
Fans of the show will be able to hone their Juice-Jitsu skills against these new heroes when they debut in the original mobile game. Likewise, the show will feature several familiar characters from the game as well.
Ahead the show’s launch, YouTube released several bonus trailers to introduce characters, tease the main story and take fans behind-the-scenes. Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force is Halfbrick Studios’ first foray into TV and—if successful—will help solidify the company’s vision of cross-over entertainment.
Last March, fans learned of a live-action Fruit Ninja movie in the works with NewLine Cinema to be written by J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani. The two writers recently adapted How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack for the big screen, which is currently in development.
Fruit Ninja, a game downloaded over a billion times, joins a growing trend of adapting popular video games for TV and film (although we’re still not sure how a “big science fiction” trilogy based on Tetris is going to work).
Clash-A-Rama!, also created for YouTube, is a series of shorts and full-length episodes from Supercell featuring characters from both Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. Last year, The Angry Birds Movie became the second-highest grossing video game film of all time and the most successful international Finnish film to boot.
Although not exactly based on a video game, another YouTube Red Original series includes Kings of Atlantis—inspired by Minecraft gameplay videos by popular YouTube creators, TheAtlanticCraft. The computer animated show features original characters and scenarios, while paying homage to Minecraft by retaining a square-headed character design.
Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force is the latest program to debut as part of YouTube Red’s slate of original programs for families alongside DanTDM Creates A Big Scene and Kings of Atlantis. YouTube Red is a paid membership currently available in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and Korea that gives viewers ad-free access to YouTube, YouTube Music, YouTube Gaming and YouTube Kids. Shows created exclusively for YouTube Red are included in this membership. As the world’s second-most visited website, YouTube plans to expand its line-up throughout the year and create value as an OTT video service.
