The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are taking another run at the big screen, according to a report by Deadline. On Monday, sources told the outlet that a new film adaptation of TMNT is being developed for Paramount Pictures. The movie will reportedly be written by Saturday Night Live‘s Colin Jost and his brother, Casey Jost.
The Jost brothers’ new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will apparently be a fresh start for the franchise, rebooting from the last two big-screen adaptations. However, Michael Bay will still be a producer on the new project, along with Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Scott Mednick and Galen Walker. Insiders said that Paramount executives still regard TMNT as a high-priority intellectual property for the company and the brand, especially in coordinating material across various platforms. The movie is expected to help buoy the new animated version of TMNT recently announced by Nickelodeon.
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Colin Jost is known for being a head writer of SNL, as well as the co-host of its “Weekend Update” segment. He has been at that job since 2005, although he has never handled a big screen franchise like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before. Jost has already signed on to return to SNL in the fall, but he has made other film commitments as well.
Jost recently starred in Tom & Jerry and is likely fielding requests to return to that franchise in the future as well. He has is also co-writing and co-starring in Worst Man, a new movie for Universal, along with his SNL cast-mate Pete Davidson.
As for Rafael, Michaelangelo, Leonardo and Donatello, they have been absent from the big screen since 2016. The turtles were acquired by ViacomCBS in 2009, and reimagined in 2014 by Bay’s studio Platinum Dunes. That movie was successful enough to earn a sequel, 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Both performed reasonably well at the box office, but not enough to keep the series going.
The turtles have still been active in other mediums since then, however. DC Comics has continued to publish comic books featuring the turtles in recent years, and in 2019 the Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series was adapted into an animated feature film by Warner Bros. Animation. That movie was well-received, and it is currently available on digital stores or on Blu-ray and DVD. It is not available to stream on either HBO Max or Paramount+, sadly.
The announcement of a new TMNT movie raises many questions, and fans are eager to speculate. Hopefully, more information will come soon, but so far Jost and Paramount have not commented on the announcement.
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