Paramount Pictures launched a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot in 2014, two decades after New Line’s original low-budget trilogy first hit theaters. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, the first installment received mixed reviews, but nevertheless brought in a global total of $493.3 million against a $125 million budget.
Critics liked Dave Green's sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, even less. The box office numbers reflected this, as the movie brought in a disappointing $245 million against a $135 million budget. And with that, the series was definitely six feet under.
Even so, the studio still refuses to give up on the entire franchise. In fact, Variety recently reported that they plan to give it a fresh start. A new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is in the works, and it's apparently going to reboot the reboot (a re-reboot!).
The trade added that Paramount brought in Andrew Dodge to pen the upcoming movie's script. Dodge wrote Jason Bateman's 2013 comedy Bad Words, and he’s currently working on the sequel to Ivan Reitman's 1996 sports comedy Space Jam.
The studio hasn’t signed a director yet, but Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller have agreed to produce through Platinum Dunes. The trio was also involved in the making of the wisecracking, pizza-loving, anthropomorphic turtles’ 2014 and 2016 outings. Those movies starred Pete Ploszek as Leo, Noel Fisher as Mikey, Jeremy Howard as Donnie, and Alan Ritchson as Raph.
