David Bridges
Highlights
- New Direction: Paramount Pictures is planning to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a live-action franchise.
- Producer Involvement: Mega-producer Neal H. Moritz is in talks to lead the project, known for his success with the Sonic the Hedgehog films.
- Impact on Other Projects: The reboot may affect the R-rated Last Ronin film but will not impact the upcoming animated film scheduled for 2027.
- Franchise Tone: The aim is to create a family-friendly, four-quadrant tone reminiscent of the original 1990s versions.
Skydance’s takeover of Paramount Pictures continues to send shockwaves across IP at the studio. Recently, it was Star Trek, and now the studio is in talks to hire mega-producer Neal H. Moritz to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a live-action theatrical franchise.
We know what you are thinking. Yes, that already happened in 2014. Yes, there were already plans for that on the table. And no, this shouldn’t impact the next animated film, still scheduled for release in 2027. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount wants to “Sonic-fy” the Turtles, so they turned to Moritz, who produced the three (and counting) live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films to billion-dollar success. What does that mean exactly? Well, according to the trade, it’s just a kind of family-friendly, four-quadrant tone that was lacking from the previous live-action iterations.
And Moritz can certainly deliver hits. In addition to Sonic, he’s best known for being a leading producer on the Fast and Furious franchise, but also made all the I Know What You Did Last Summer, 21 Jump Street, Goosebumps, the Escape Room movies, and more.
The news does put a pin in the R-rated Last Ronin film that was in the works, however. That’s now been put aside, though it might come back at a later date. And while Paramount’s new direction did mark the end of the Turtles animated show, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the sequel to Mutant Mayhem is still in the works (with a related short debuting in theaters next month).
No word yet on when or how this new version of the Turtles will arrive, but it certainly sounds like it’ll share more in common with its original 1990s TV and movie versions than the Michael Bay-produced films. And, you’d imagine, it would also have to be different enough to stand apart from the animated films. Basically, there are a lot of questions to be answered, but for Turtles fans, getting them back on the big screen is rarely a bad thing.
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Daniel Mercer
