paramount Pictures is developing a new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie franchise, while plans for an R-rated adaptation of The Last Ronin comic series have been paused. The announcement comes as Paramount assesses its film slate and seeks to maximize the potential of the fully-owned TMNT intellectual property, originally created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise follows Leonardo,donatello,Raphael,and Michelangelo - four heroes protecting New York City from villains like Shredder – and has spanned decades of movies,television shows,comics,and video games. The most recent film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, released in 2023, is receiving a sequel currently scheduled for September 17, 2027. However, the Mutant Mayhem spin-off series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was recently cancelled after two seasons.
Producer Neal H. Moritz is in talks to spearhead the new live-action franchise.Paramount acquired the TMNT brand from co-creator Peter Laird in 2009.This new project will be the first live-action TMNT film since 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
A previously reported live-action/CG hybrid project based on The Last Ronin has been “put back in the pizza box,” according to the hollywood Reporter.The project, envisioned as an R-rated feature with nobody filmmaker Ilya Naishuller potentially directing, was shelved because the studio prefers to avoid launching a non-animated TMNT film in over a decade with a mature, violent storyline. Studio representatives have indicated the possibility of revisiting the Last Ronin adaptation in the future.
“One insider says the studio wants to leave the door open to possibly revisit it down the road,” The Hollywood Reporter reported.
