The heroes in a half shell are coming back for more pizza, again.
Paramount is developing a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and has hired Andrew Dodge, the writer behind the Jason Bateman R-Rated comedy Bad Words, to pen the script.
Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce the feature via their Platinum Dunes banner. The company was behind the studio’s horror hit A Quiet Place.
Paramount recently made two Ninja Turtles movies based on the 1980s cult comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird that spawned a pop cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There were three three films in the 1990s, (1990, 1992 and 1993), that were released by Warner Bros’ New Line banner.
The first Paramount TMNT, released in 2014, grossed $493 million worldwide while 2016’s installment, subtitled Out of the Shadows, showed the limits of the franchise with $245 million. Neither was a hit with critics.
However, both were made before the arrival of chairman Jim Gianopulos, who has made it a priority to clean up the studio’s slate and refocus on its franchises. Insiders are hoping to bring a patina of quality as they relaunch the brand.
It’s all in the name: Ninja Turtles chronicles the adventures of four mutated turtles, named after Renaissance artists Michaelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo, and in their teens, who protect New York City using ninja skills acquired from a humanoid rat.
