The saga of the martial artist turtles Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael continues with a highly-anticipated animated movie from Nickelodeon, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem news revealed so far sets it up as one of the most innovative reimaginings of the TMNT canon yet. While the franchise's first live-action films are cult classics, none of their 21st-century releases have made much of a mark. In 2007, the CGI-animated feature TMNT drew mixed reviews. This was followed by 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, which disappointed with its inconsistent blend of humor and drama and poor characterization.Starting with their first cartoon in 1987, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had a popular run on television with various acclaimed series, including several 2000s-era reboots. Unfortunately, their movies haven't consistently fared as well. Could the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie break the curse? Scheduled to release in the summer of 2023, Paramount Pictures' coming-of-age adventure film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem certainly has potential — with a new animation style for the franchise and a star-studded voice cast, a lot will be riding on this latest venture.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Latest News
One of the most recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem promo releases shows off some fun character posters for the new Ninja Turtles adventure. Along with getting new images of the turtles themselves, these posters also highlight other key characters in the story along with reiterating the amazing voice cast of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. This includes highlighting Seth Rogen and John Cena as Bebop and Rocksteady, Ayo Edebiri as April, and the first look at Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman. It is not only a thrill to see these fan-favorite characters brought to life in a new style, but also little-known characters like Mondo Gecko voiced by Paul Rudd.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Release Date
As stated in the film's teaser trailer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is eyeing a late-summer release date, opening on August 2, 2023. The animated feature will be one of the first major August releases, with it clashing against Meg 2: The Trench at the box office. The subsequent few weeks of August will see the release of other highly anticipated competitors, such as the live-action adaptation of PlayStation’s Gran Turismo and DC’s superhero movie Blue Beetle. Given that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot follows a few weeks after July’s box-office battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer, Mutant Mayhem will get considerable time to stand out on its own.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Was Confirmed In 2020
The earliest confirmation of the Mutant Mayhem project came in June 2020 when Nickelodeon Animation Studio announced that a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated feature was in the works. The computer-animated reboot also got Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as producers at that time with the duo’s production company, Point Grey Pictures, assisting Nickelodeon. Calling it a “next-level reinvention of the property," Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins promised the upcoming reboot to be a perfect blend of action and humor. Audiences already began speculating how the new TMNT movie can improve the series’ legacy with a self-professed fan like Rowe also roped in as director from the earliest confirmation.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Cast
While Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan have been dominating the headlines around Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the cast also includes some rising talents. Given that the titular turtles are teenagers, they will be voiced by young actors Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Shamon Brown Jr (Michelangelo), Micah Abbey (Donatello), and Brady Noon (Raphael). While these actors are all newcomers with fairly few screen credits so far, they will be united under the iconic Master Splinter voiced by Jackie Chan. As Jackie Chan’s iconic action movies prove, he is the perfect choice for a martial arts teacher like Splinter.
Other iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters will appear in the Mutant Mayhem cast, including the team’s regular ally April O’Neil, who will be voiced by Ayo Edebiri, the actress best known for her supporting roles on Big Mouth and The Bear. The comedic villainous mutant duo Bebop and Rocksteady will also be featured, voiced by Seth Rogen and John Cena, respectively. Other big names include rapper Post Malone, comedian Hannibal Buress, rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube, and X-Men franchise actress Rose Byrne, all of whom will be voicing mutated animals much like the eponymous turtles. Additionally, Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito will be voicing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’s main villain, the antagonistic scientist Baxter Stockman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Story Details
With Seth Rogen keen on exploring more of the teenage side of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mutant Mayhem will play out as a coming-of-age story, perhaps along similar lines as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. As usual, the Turtles will still be battling crime in New York City, although the movie will touch upon their initial learning experiences, too. So, audiences can expect mischievous adolescent behavior from the Turtles before they set out to fight the city’s criminal elements. April O'Neill will end up being the Turtles' loyal ally as expected, and it's clear that Baxter Stockman will harbor some ambitiously evil plans that will change the city's fate. The turtles will also find themselves going up against numerous other mutated animals in the movie.
The TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Soundtrack Goes Hard
Though there are plenty of aspects of the story to get excited about, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem soundtrack is sure to be a great one. Musicians Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails are scoring the movie. The duo has teamed up with a lot of success on movie soundtracks in the past. They scored The Social Network, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which earned a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. They also worked with John Batiste on Pixar’s Soul, which won both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for its soundtrack. The two have produced a variety of different music for those soundtracks.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Trailer
The new trailer for TMNT Mutant Mayhem updates some important story information. Previously, all that was known about the movie is that it would be a coming-of-age story for the turtles, perhaps their first attempt to be heroes. While that’s still true, the trailer makes it clear that their fight will actually be with other mutant creatures. The reason there are so many of their comic book villains in the movie is that the other mutated animals are teaming up to rule over humanity - or at least, that’s the plan. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set out to stop them, despite knowing that humanity is going to be afraid of them.
New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem character posters of the movie have also been released, giving the audience a sneak peek at the Turtles' personalities as each poster features the signature color of the turtle in question, as well as their weapon of choice, and something they love. Leonardo’s character poster, for example, features a pizza with his belongings. It hints at the movie diving a little deeper into what makes these iconic characters tic which is one of the most exciting aspect of the movie.