Paramount Pictures is developing another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie after Mutant Mayhem's success last year, according to a The Hollywood Reporter exclusive.
However, this one is straying beyond the family-friend fare the IP has long been known for an into the darker R-rated territory of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin from IDW. This one won't be an animated film, but a live-action feature.
The script writer is Tyler Burton Smith, who co-wrote the upcoming Bill Skarsgård R-rate movie Boy Kills World. Smith also wrote the script for 2019's Child's Play, from the Chucky franchise. Walter Hamada is set to produce the upcoming project through his production company 18hz as part of his multiyear deal with Paramount.
The Last Ronin is set in a futuristic totalitarian New York City. The miniseries follows the story of the Shredder's grandson Oroku Hiroto and his synthetic ninjas or Synjas killing the Turtles and Master Splinter one by one. One Ninja Turtle survives and promises to exact vengeance.
The miniseries doesn't make it clear in the beginning exactly which one of the Turtles lived, as the surviving on had all of his brothers' weapons.
The books were released from 2020 to 2022. The series was an unexpected hit and the trade paperback version became the second-best selling graphic novel last year, according to Circana BookScan. The sequel TMNT: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution was recently released and already has 140,000 units ordered.
Even though The Last Ronin was published by IDW, it's not connected to the rest of the Ninja Turtles comics. It's set in its own universe called the Roninverse.
I'm excited for this project. I'm a huge fan of the animated version from the '80s. Honestly speaking, they became my introduction into the world of the art Masters. I knew Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael before I knew about the actual masters.
However, the Roninverse is especially right up my alley. While the story is tragic, it's pretty good. The Ninja Turtles started out as comic book series in 1983. In 1987, the animated series was released. It ran for 10 seasons with 193 episodes. It last aired in November 1996.
The first film was released in 1990, with the Turtles' costumes developed by the Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The movie grossed $202 million on a $13.5 billion budget. It was the highest-grossing independent film at that time and the ninth-grossing movie in 1990. It was followed by two sequels released in 1991 and 1993.