Those irrepressible champions of justice, the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ are headed back to the big screen, courtesy of Nickelodeon Movies (who produced the last two live-action pictures) with Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver producing. The new version will be CGI, not live-action. Jeff Rowe, who co-directed the upcoming animated Sony film ‘Connected’, will helm this reboot. He previously worked as a writer for ‘Gravity Falls’ and Netflix’s ‘Disenchantment’. Brendan O’Brien who co-wrote the two ‘Neighbors’ flicks, ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’, and ‘The House’ will pen the screenplay.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had one prior CGI film, 2007’s ‘TMNT’. Altogether, the movie franchise has generated $1.15 billion since the release of the first live-action ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ in 1990. This new film will mark the first feature-length CGI movie for Nickelodeon.
Brian Robbins, President, Kids & Family for ViacomCBS, stated (via Deadline):
“Adding Seth, Evan, and James’ genius to the humor and action that’s already an integral part of TMNT is going to make this a next-level reinvention of the property. I’m looking forward to see what they do, and I know that Ramsey Naito and her team are excited to take the Nick Animation Studio into another great direction with their first-ever CG-animated theatrical.”
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who published their initial exploits in a black and white independent comic. The concept was turned into a hit cartoon series in 1987, with a long-running toyline to accompany it. ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ became an enduring kids brand that permeated everything from toys to coloring books to backpacks and school supplies to clothing to decor to toothbrushes to… basically anything that a logo could be slapped on and has been reinvented many times over the years to appeal to newer generations of kids who are just discovering the property their parents grew up with.
The main characters were regular turtles from a pet store that were doused with radioactive sludge and mutated into large humanoid turtles. Leonardo (in blue) is the group’s leader, while Michaelangelo (in orange) is the class clown, Raphael (in red) is the rebellious one, and Donatello (in purple) is the tech genius. They were raised by Splinter, a humanoid rat, also mutated by the same sludge. They are typically accompanied by their human ally, April O’Neal, who was originally African American in the comics but depicted as White on the cartoon and in subsequent licensing and adaptations. But starting with the 2018 series, ‘Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, she was restored to being Black. Another frequent human ally is the sports-obsessed vigilante Casey Jones.
In the classic cartoons and movies, the Turtles’ greatest foes are the alien warlord Krang, and his human henchman Shredder, commander of the Foot Clan of ninjas.
Are you excited by the idea of a new CGI ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ movie?
