Screen Rant » teenage mutant ninja turtles

Taylor Lautner Cast as Leonardo in ‘Ninja Turtles’ Reboot [Updated]

Ben Kendrick — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:38:00 +0000

[UPDATE: APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!]

It’s been a rough couple weeks for die-hard fans of the “Heroes in a Half Shell” – as producer Michael Bay dropped one controversial Ninja Turtles tidbit after another. As a result, emotions have been running especially high with many fans of the 1980s cartoon series (and comic book source material) fearing that Bay is poised to once again ruin fond childhood memories (remember the flames on Optimus Prime?), this time with a live-action Turtles film adaptation that removes fan-favorite aspects of the lean, green, fighting machines.

Unfortunately, we’ve now received word of yet another controversial Ninja Turtles announcement – the casting of Twilight star (and teen heartthrob), Taylor Lautner, in the role of Turtle squad leader Leonardo.

The now-infamous producer officially announced the Lautner (aka Team Jacob) casting on his blog – asserting ...

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Michael Bay Confirms the ‘TMNT’ Reboot is Titled ‘Ninja Turtles’

Sandy Schaefer — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:52:13 +0000

The latest battle in the war of words being waged between producer Michael Bay and hard-core Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans – over the impending live-action franchise reboot (which Bay’s Platinum Dunes is producing) – has to do with the project’s truncated title, Ninja Turtles.

Much like the Transformers series director did in response to the backlash over his own announcement about the Turtles being true extraterrestrials in the new movie, Bay has released yet another response to fans’ complaints about the title change-up… and much like before (if we’re being honest), his comments are likely to be interpreted as condescending by longtime TMNT fans, while also doing little to abate their anger.

Still, for what it’s worth, here is Bay’s statement about the title change to Ninja Turtles (verbatim and as originally ...

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‘TMNT’ Reboot’s Working Title Is ‘Ninja Turtles’

Sandy Schaefer — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:12:57 +0000

It’s been a crazy week for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action franchise reboot, to say the least. Buzz surrounding the project went from being somewhat cautiously optimistic-to-positive-to being downright hostile, all thanks to producer Michael Bay’s revelation about how the Turtles are now going to be straight-up aliens, and his subsequent (condescending?) response to the backlash his comments incited.

Unfortunately, there’s more fuel to add to the fire today, as it has been discovered that the TMNT reboot is going under the working title Ninja Turtles – suggesting that the the eponymous masked warriors are not only going to be purely from another planet/dimension, but will also be missing their trademark adolescent qualities.

Bleeding Cool has “verified” that Ninja Turtles is indeed the project’s tentative title. The site also says that ...

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Michael Bay Responds to ‘TMNT’ Alien Controversy & Villain Rumors

Sandy Schaefer — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:42:40 +0000

Infuriated fans swooped down on our report about producer Michael Bay’s comment concerning how the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action film reboot will change-up the title characters’ backstory by making them aliens. To say the very idea prompted a predominantly negative response from the Turtles-adoring masses, is to put it pretty mildly.

Bay has gone ahead and released an official statement in response to the controversy surrounding the new TMNT franchise installment. In addition to that tidbit, we’ve also gotten wind of some rumors (from a legitimate source) that help explain the planned change-up to the Turtles‘ origins.

While the very idea of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being extraterrestrials seems to directly contradict the idea that the title characters are… well, mutant turtles, many fans have already pointed out (in the comics) ...

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Michael Bay Teases ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Origin Change for Reboot

Sandy Schaefer — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:07:51 +0000

[UPDATE: Michael Bay responds to fan outrage.]

Before continuing on, we ought to clarify: Michael Bay is only producing the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series reboot through his Platinum Dunes, not directing. Helming duties (for better or for worse) on the project look to instead be given to Jonathan Liebesman, who previously worked on the Bay-produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and last year’s alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles.

Bay talked about the TMNT reboot at the 2012 Nickelodeon Upfront in New York – promising a cinematic return-to-form for the sewer-dwelling masked vigilantes, while also casually dropping a bombshell (turtleshell?) about how the characters’ traditional origin story will be altered for the new movie.

On the topic of how convincing the famous anthropomorphic reptilian stars of TMNT will be, Bay ...

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‘One Shot’ Takes ‘World War Z’s’ Spot & ‘TMNT’ Reboot Gets A Release Date

Sandy Schaefer — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:35:37 +0000

Paramount Pictures has reshuffled its upcoming release schedule a bit, bumping up the Tom Cruise-starring One Shot adaptation to December 2012 in order to take the place of the studio’s Brad Pitt-starring World War Z adaptation – which has now been pushed back some six months to Summer 2013.

Meanwhile, Paramount has also settled on a Christmas 2013 release date for its revamping of the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise. That flick is still officially without a director (though Battle Los Angeles helmer Jonathan Liebesman is heavily rumored for the job) but does have a screenplay in the works from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol duo Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec.

One Shot was originally slated to hit theaters (no pun) during the slower-going portion of 2013 (specifically, February ...

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‘Battle LA’ Director in Talks for ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Reboot

Sandy Schaefer — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:10:37 +0000

Progress has been relatively slow on Paramount Pictures and Platinum Dunes’ live-action reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, since the project was announced nearly three years ago. A handful of noteworthy writers have contributed to the process of bringing the reptilian martial artists back to non-animated (or hand-drawn) life, but the film has previously had little to no success in attracting a potential director.

That’s changed at last, with new reports revealing that Jonathan Liebesman has officially begun talks to come aboard the revitalized TMNT ship. Assuming negotiations don’t break down, the South African-born director will be working from a script draft penned most recently by Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol duo Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec.

Variety says that plot details for the TMNT reboot are being kept secret for now, ...

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Complete Comic-Con 2011 TV Panel Schedule [Updated]

Anthony Ocasio — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:51:53 +0000

Check your calendar, because Comic-Con 2011 will soon be upon us. With over 70 different TV panels confirmed for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, finding out when and where you’re favorite television series will be appearing is definitely easier said than done.

On top of that, some of Comic-Con’s fan-favorite TV series have been upgraded from the hallowed Ballroom 20, and will now be gracing the 5,000-seat Hall H. So, this year you won’t be able to simply sit in one room all day to catch many of the major television events has to offer at Comic-Con.

Fortunately, we’ve attempted to take some of the confusion out of your Comic-Con experience with a complete schedule of all the TV panels. While some series have yet to announce specific details, the ...

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‘Daredevil’ & ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Reboots Snag New Writers

Sandy Schaefer — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:25:39 +0000

Two upcoming comic book franchise reboots – one about a blind-warrior with “sonar vision,” the other about mutated reptiles with mad martial arts skills – have just taken another step forward. 20th Century Fox has hired a screenwriter to pen its new Daredevil movie, while Paramount has selected a new writing duo to tackle scripting duties on its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot.

Daredevil is the reboot that fans have been expecting to hear about sooner than later, since director David Slade promised some official news was on the horizon about a week and a half ago. Better late than never, though.

Heat Vision says that Fox has brought on writer Brad Caleb Kane to script Slade’s new cinematic project about The Man Without Fear, who was previously brought ...

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First Look At New ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ TV Show

Sandy Schaefer — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:29:58 +0000

It’s been three years since Nickelodeon purchased the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, with plans to create yet another television series that features the titular martial arts trained reptiles in animated form – not to be confused with Platinum Dune’s live-action TMNT reboot.

The Nickelodeon series isn’t due out until next year, but there’s now an official preview which offers a very brief glimpse at the new-and-improved mutant warriors that are named after Renaissance artists and have a fondness for pizza (how often do you get to write those words together?).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be a computer-animated series, and according to executive producer Ciro Nieli, each of the turtles (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael) will possess “more individual attributes.” The theme song for the original 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja ...

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: February 6, 2011

Niall Browne — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:14:31 +0000

This week:

The box office finds a Roommate while James Cameron gets that sinking feeling with Sanctum; Brad Fuller talks horror sequels and Ninja Turtles, Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy reunite after getting Lost with Carlton Cuse; Mike Newell has Great Expectations; get ready for the Unexpected and Jesse McCartney is under Locke & Key.Box Office

Thriller The Roommate topped a weak box office over the weekend with an estimated gross of $15.6 million. The low budget Screen Gems film should be profitable once it finishes its run – which shouldn’t be too far in the future.

The James Cameron produced Sanctum (read our review) opened in second place with a weekend take of $9.2 million. The weak gross for the 3D adventure shows that the third dimension and Cameron’s name will only go so far at the box office.

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: November 14, 2010

Niall Browne — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:03:05 +0000

This week:

Unstoppable is stoppable; Dune‘s future is looking bleak; Paramount readies some high-profile films; Warner Bros. want Tales From The Gangster Squad; Courtney Ford needs True Blood; will Merlin have magic? Women kick butt in The Athena Project; Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank and Ashton Kutcher get ready for New Year’s Eve; and lots more.

Last week’s champion Megamind and the Denzel Washington flick Unstoppable (review here), directed by Tony Scott, fought it out for the top spot over the weekend. It looks like the animated superhero film came out on top, after grossing an estimated $30.1 million, upping its total to $89.8 million.

That doesn’t mean that Washington’s film disappointed – as it grossed $23.5 million, which is business as usual for a Washington action effort.

Due Date dropped a ...

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‘Iron Man’ Writers To Pen TMNT Reboot

Ross Miller — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:41:53 +0000

We first heard word that we’d be getting a new film version – as well as a new CGI animated cartoon series – of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last October when Nickelodeon bought all the rights to the franchise. Back in May, it was announced that Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes had come aboard to co-produce the TMNT reboot along with Nickelodeon and Paramount.

Since the project was being fast-tracked it was clear that the announcement of a director and a writer would soon follow. Fast-forward a few months and Deadline is reporting that Paramount has hired writing duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to pen the TMNT reboot.

You may not know their names and they haven’t done a ton of stuff, but Marcum and Holloway were two ...

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Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes To Produce TMNT Reboot

Ross Miller — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Last October we reported the news that Nickelodeon, a division of Viacom, had paid a reported $60 million for the rights to the entire Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. This meant that we’d be getting not only a new live-action TMNT movie (coming in 2012), but also a new CG-animation TV series.

With the movie being a supposed reboot of the film franchise (first started in 1990), it seems that co-producers Paramount and Nickelodeon have brought on a company that’s made its name by producing reboots of known properties: Platinum Dunes.

In case you’re wondering, that’s the company co-owned by one Michael Bay. I know, I know – I can hear you groaning from miles away!

Deadline is reporting the news that Paramount and Nickelodeon have brought ...

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Movies & TV Shows Geeks Pretend Don’t Exist

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:26:50 +0000

Working in the TV/Movie blog business, there’s one undeniable law you come to accept: Geeks are an obsessive bunch. No matter our own individual degrees of geekdom, at a certain point we’ve all stopped to stare at that other person who was WAY too into something – be it Star Trek or Star Wars or even that sports fanatic whose blood pressure is one scoreboard point away from going critical.

We all know about geek obsession – but what about geek denial? It’s not a topic you hear brought up very often, but geeks have powers of denial just as strong as their obsessive tendencies. And to prove this fact, we here at Screen Rant are prepared to delve into the deep, dark, realm of “Movies and TV Shows That Geeks Pretend ...

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30 Awesome Minimalist Superhero Posters

Anthony Ocasio — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:33:04 +0000

We here at Screen Rant wanted to celebrate the upcoming summer movie season – particularly the release of Iron Man 2 – by taking an unconventional look at some of the most iconic superheroes in the entertainment industry.

Over the past few months, you may have caught some of our “SR Picks” which highlighted various artists’ interpretations of Quentin Tarantino films, Star Wars and popular television series. Today, we’re stepping out from solely presenting these wonderful posters and taking the initiative to create some of our own.

For the past three nights, I put my need for a good night’s sleep aside in order to present you, the reader, with literally dozens of superhero posters with a unique, minimalist twist.

Some may be more obvious than others, but hopefully you’ll have no problem identifying each and every comic-book icon represented. If, for some reason, you’re not a ...

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Ninja Turtles Turns 25 With ‘Turtles Forever’

Anthony Ocasio — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:43:37 +0000

There’s nothing like finding out your favorite childhood characters are turning 25 to make you feel old. With TMNT: Turtles Forever, we’re celebrating this great anniversary with a made-for-TV animated movie so amazing that it has me forgetting about my age-related insecurities.

Produced by 4Kids Entertainment (the folks behind the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series), this television event combines multiple era’s of Ninja Turtles in a story that’s so great, I really can’t explain it in words. Although, this article is relying heavily on words, so I should at least try, but I apologize ahead of time for any (more) fanboy-ism.

Here’s the low-down. The Turtles from the 80’s try and send the Technodrome back to Dimension X, but something goes wrong and they end up in a parallel universe – one that’s populated with its own version of ...

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‘TMNT’ Bought by Nickelodeon, New Movie & TV Show Coming

Scott Miller — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:41:52 +0000

According to Variety, the global rights to our “heroes in the half-shell” were picked up by Nickelodeon, a division of Viacom, for $60MM from Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment. Nickelodeon will begin developing a new CG-animated (think Toy Story, not Disney’s Robin Hood) TV series packed with turtle power to begin airing in 2012. Paramount Pictures (also owned by Viacom) will be putting the Turtles back on the big screen in 2012 as well.

Scott Mednick, executive producer of Where the Wild Things Are is set to produce the new film. Nickelodeon will be working with its regular co-collaborator, Playmate Toys, on action-figures, etc.

For those who knew no joy as children, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the focus of comic books, tv shows, films, toys, lunch-boxes, Halloween costumes, etc., etc., with a global following at the ...

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Comic-Con: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Movie Will Be Dark

Rob Frappier — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:06:03 +0000

Ever since the announcement of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, fans around the world have anxiously waited to learn more about the film. Would it be fun and family-friendly like the previous live-action TMNT films? Or, would the story be edgier and more violent like the original TMNT comics? Producers Scott Mednick and Galen Walker were on hand at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con to answer some of these questions and more.

During the panel, Walker elaborated on the film’s focus and the desire to bring the story back to the 25-year-old franchise’s origins.

“Our point of view is this: go back and look at the original Turtles comics. They are very dark. The audience is much more sophisticated than they were in 1990. This is 2009. Take the new Harry ...

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Writer Confirmed For Live-Action ‘Ninja Turtles’ Movie

Ross Miller — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:22:04 +0000

Last week Screen Rant reported on a possible new writer for the new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the form of John Fusco (Young Guns). The semi-confirmation came when TMNT fan site Ninja Pizza picked up on a report put up on (and quickly removed from) TMNT25.com that listed Fusco as the writer.

However, it has just recently been officially confirmed that Fusco will write the live-action TMNT reboot, which is to be produced by Scott Mednick (300, Superman Returns) and Galen Walker (TMNT).

Variety is reporting that Fusco has been brought on-board as the writer for the new Ninja Turtles film, which is hoped to relaunch the four crime-fighting turtles, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael once more (there was an “updated” 2007 CGI-animated movie and of course the three live-action films released in the ’90s). Although no director ...

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