Here's everything to expect for the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, which marks the third big screen reboot of the original early '90s trilogy. The popular movie franchise is based on Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's comic series that debuted in 1984. Nearly thirty years after the initial publication, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continue to resonate with global audiences due to the franchise's fun, unique premise.
Before the movie franchise became a pop culture phenomenon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was adapted as an animated series. By 1990, director Steve Barron released the first theatrical movie (appropriately titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), which introduced Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael to new demographics. Produced for just $13 million, the film earned over $200 million at the box office and naturally led to a 1991 sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. At the time, musician Vanilla Ice was one of the industry's biggest new stars, and recorded the song "Ninja Rap" for the movie, thus broadening the worldwide fanbase (or at least that was the intent). The subsequent 1993 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III fared OK at the box office, but the franchise had clearly lost some cultural momentum.
In recent years, three more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles installments have released. Chris Evans was part of the voice cast for Kevin Munroe's 2007 CGI film TMNT, and Michael Bay co-produced the 2014 reboot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, directed by Jonathan Liebesman. The latest movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, released in 2016 and received mixed reactions from general moviegoers. Here's what to expect from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film.
Seth Rogen Is Making An Animated TMNT Movie Reboot
In June 2020, Seth Rogen was officially announced as a producer for a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles project. The popular comedy actor will collaborate with Nickelodeon through his company Point Grey Pictures for a CGI adaptation. The new TMNT movie will be directed by Jeff Rowe, who previously wrote for Gravity Falls and Disenchantment. Rogen's franchise update will be written by Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reboot Release Date
Rogen's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot likely won't release until at least 2022. For the 2014 reboot, Nickelodeon announced Bay's involvement in May 2010 and set a release date for 2012. However, several productions delays — including a leaked script — resulted in changing premiere dates. The reboot ultimately released in the U.S. on August 9, 2014. Assuming that Rogen's film will have a smoother production process, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will theoretically release in the summer of 2023, though it's certainly possible that a 2022 premiere may tentatively be in place.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reboot Story Details
An official synopsis hasn't been released for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, however Rogen has confirmed that the film will be grounded in the teenage experience, and will thus essentially be a coming-of-age film:
"As a lifelong fan of Ninja Turtles, weirdly the ‘Teenage’ part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was always the part that stuck out to me the most. And as someone who loves teenage movies, and who’s made a lot of teenage movies, and who literally got their start in their entire profession by writing a teenage movie, the idea of kind of honing in on that element was really exciting to us. I mean, not disregarding the rest, but really using that as kind of a jumping off point for the film.”
Based on the available information beyond that, it seems like the reboot will be family-friendly and may even have some borderline adult humor. The film's screenwriter, O'Brien, has a knack for tapping into the inherent conflict of human relationships, and the turtle premise will allow for a bit of comedic surrealism. In the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, expect the updated protagonists to have big personalities and have a firm understanding of the world around them.