New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live-Action Reboot in the Works With Neal H. Moritz Producing

The heroes in a half-shell are set to make a return to the big screen in another live-action reboot. Per The Hollywood Reporter, producer Neal H. Moritz, best known for working on the Fast and Furious and Sonic the Hedgehog live-action film series, is currently in talks to produce a new live-action TMNT film franchise for Paramount Pictures.

The planned reboot comes after Skydance has taken ownership of the studio, which is re-examining its slate and existing IP. Also, Paramount fully owns the TMNT IP, unlike some of its other franchises, including GI Joe and Transformers, which are owned by Hasbro. Meanwhile, Sonic is the IP of SEGA.

Paramount acquired the property from co-creator Peter Laird back in 2009, and the studio wants to reportedly unlock more of the franchise’s potential. If it gets off the ground, this would be the first live-action TMNT movie since the 2016 release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which bombed with both critics and audiences.

The new owners of Paramount also recently canceled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an animated spin-off of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem animated feature, during the middle of production earlier this year. Series showrunner Chris Yost said of the cancellation earlier this year on social media, “This is not the vision the owners want.” He added, “The upcoming episodes of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will sadly be the last. Luckily, they’re our best episodes yet.”

The Turtles last hit the big screen in August 2023 with the CG-animated feature, Mutant Mayhem, which was co-written and produced by Seth Rogen. The film was a box office success, grossing $118 million domestically and $181 million worldwide. A sequel is currently in the works for a 2027 release.

Back at CinemaCon 2024, Paramount had announced plans to make a live-action theatrical version of The Last Ronin, based on a dark and gritty TMNT comic book storyline that was first published in 2020. The project was planned to be made with an R-rating, with Ilya Naishuller in talks to direct.

However, now that Skydance is setting up a new reboot with Neal H. Moritz, it looks like those plans for The Last Ronin are now reportedly on the back burner. THR notes that the new regime at Paramount wasn’t keen on the first live-action TMNT movie in ten years as an R-rated, bloody, adult-skewing story. However, one insider did state that the studio wants to leave the door open to potentially revisit the story later on.

Multiple sources inform THR that Paramount plans to “Sonic-ify” the TMNT franchise, using the successful Sonic the Hedgehog film series as the model for the reboot. That film series currently has its fourth installment in the works. It also had its first live-action spin-off series, Knuckles, debut earlier on Paramount+.

That explains why Paramount is bringing on the producer of the Sonic film series. One insider stated to THR, “If you want Sonic, you go to the guy who did Sonic.”

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sequel is currently due out on Sept. 17, 2027. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are producing the feature, which will be directed by Jeff Rowe.