Don’t look now, but there’s two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies in the works. In addition to Seth Rogen’s CG-animated adventure for Nickelodeon, Paramount is developing a new live-action feature with Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost and his brother Casey Jost on board as co-writers.
Though neither a cast nor a director for this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film have been announced, it does seem like it will be a continuation of the Michael Bay-produced series from the 2010s. Bay is back onboard as producer via his Platinum Dunes company, as are Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Scott Mednick, and Galen Walker.
That’s the same team that was behind 2014’s CGI-live-action hybrid TMNT franchise relaunch and its sequel, 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. While neither of those could be confused with a “good” flick, they netted a combined $730 million world wide at the box office.
It remains to be seen if those films’ original stars — such as Megan Fox as April O’Neil, Stephen Amell as Casey Jones, and Brian Tee as The Shredder — will return. Or whether Tyler Perry will get a chance to come back in Dr. Baxter Stockman’s mutated fly form.
[editors-picks id=”705532″]
As usual, though, the new movie will revolve around the crime-fighting, pizza-loving turtles that everyone loves. Considering Colin Jost’s resume when it comes to witty SNL one-liners, the movie will probably veer into the comedy genre. Maybe if we’re lucky he’ll slide in a reference to SNL’s hilarious spoof featuring the gang as middle-aged turtles.
After the initial run of movies in the ’90s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles received a well-received CGI remake in 2007 titled TMNT. It seems likely Rogen’s take on the rad reptile universe, scheduled to hit theaters in 2023, will be separate from both that decade-and-a-half old CGI tale and the Josts’ new project. Just goes to show that there’s plenty of ooze left in the TMNT franchise.
