Every time a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie comes out, something has to set it apart. The first movies spun the franchise from animation to live-action. Then things went back to animation. Later, it flipped back to live-action yet again, with the latest reboots using new technology and turtle designs. And now, things are spinning back to animation.
That’s in part due to producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Their company, Point Grey, is teaming up with Paramount and Nickelodeon to make a new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. This much we knew. What we didn’t know was how this movie would be different from the others.
“When I look at Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the ‘teenage’ part was weirdly what stuck out to me the most,” Rogen told Business Insider. “I think one thing we’ve been pretty consistently good at over the years is creating material about teenagers, from Blockers, Good Boys, and Superbad. That was really what became exciting for us is how do we make a great action-adventure movie that’s also a great teenage movie.”
That was all the information Rogen provided about the new reboot, but it’s enough. The fact the turtles are teenagers has always been a big part of their appeal: their love of pizza and skateboarding, their vocabulary, their innocent worldview, and so on. But certainly, there’s got to be a way to heighten that even more, while also keeping the action and excitement fans love about the franchise.
Plus, this quote provides a very crucial answer to the question, “Why the hell are the dudes who made Sausage Party, Superbad, and This Is the End making a Ninja Turtles movie?” It’s because they make great teenage movies, and this is an opportunity to bring that approach to the turtles.
No word on when the movie, which is being directed by Jeff Rowe and written by Brendan O’Brian, will be ready, but it’s definitely in the works.
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