Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Getting Bloody, Live-Action Film The Last Ronin

The 40-year-old, kid-friendly franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is returning to movie theaters in live action, in a project that Paramount Pictures is targeting instead for adults. The studio is developing the bloody and intense graphic novel series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin with screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith (Boy Kills World) and Walter

The 40-year-old, kid-friendly franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is returning to movie theaters in live action, in a project that Paramount Pictures is targeting instead for adults.

The studio is developing the bloody and intense graphic novel series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin” with screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith (“Boy Kills World”) and Walter Hamada‘s 18hz production company through his multi-year deal. The 2020-2022 miniseries — written by original “Turtles” creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, with Eastman and Tom Waltz developing the script — is set in a bleak, dystopian future in which Oroku Hiroto, the grandson of the Turtles’ arch-nemesis, Shredder, rules New York City as a totalitarian despot. Hiroto has killed all but one of the Turtles, as well as their mentor, Splinter; the remaining Turtle seeks revenge by wielding all four of their signature weapons.

Related Stories

The YouTube logo wrapped inbetween the Netflix logo VIP+

How YouTube and Netflix Copied Each Other’s Homework

Variety Strictly Business Measuring Streaming Writers Revenue Writers Strike

Nielsen, TV Networks Continue Clash Over Upgrade That Might Give Early Favor to Amazon

The project is the latest and perhaps boldest adaptation of the long-running Turtles franchise, which Eastman and Laird created as a comic book series in 1984. Originally intended as a parody of popular comic tropes at the time, the series became a sensation in its own right, spawning a toy line, a popular animated series, several videogames and, to date, seven feature film adaptations — both in live-action and animation — starting in 1990. The most recent film, 2023’s animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” was a modest hit for Paramount, grossing $118.6 million in the U.S. and Canada and $180.5 million worldwide.

Popular on Variety

“The Last Ronin,” however, marks the first time the franchise has been adapted for an adult audience, off the major success of the graphic novel series, which ranked second on Circana BookScan’s list of the top selling graphic novels in 2023.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjp%2BgpaVfo7K4v46tnJ6mkZyybrnUrZinrF2jtq%2B2wGarrqqkobK0edOhnGakkajBbr7Op6CnZZyew6Z5wJyroqeeYrqwwsieZGpqY2qGd4OYa29o

 Share!