Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

In June 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Nickelodeon Animation Studio was developing a computer-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film for Paramount Pictures. The film marks Nickelodeon Animation's first CG-animated theatrical production. Jeff Rowe was hired to direct the feature, with Brendan O'Brien writing the screenplay, and Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver producing through their production company, Point Grey Pictures. Ramsey Naito and Josh Fagen were overseeing production for Nickelodeon and Point Grey, respectively.[1]

In an interview with Collider in August of that year, Rogen said that the film would put a heavy focus on the teenage element of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He stated: "As a lifelong fan of Ninja Turtles, weirdly the 'Teenage' part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was always the part that stuck out to me the most. And as someone who loves teenage movies, and who’s made a lot of teenage movies, and who literally got their start in their entire profession by writing a teenage movie, the idea of kind of honing in on that element was really exciting to us. I mean, not disregarding the rest, but really using that as kind of a jumping-off point for the film."[4]

In June 2021, Rogen revealed a teaser image through his Twitter page, which contained school notes written by Leonardo, the film's original release date, and other details.[5] By October, the film was under the working title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Chapter. Production designer, Yashar Kassai, elaborated on the project by saying, "You anchor yourself enough in the familiar elements of it so that it is easily recognizable, but then you either add to or enhance some of the existing charm of the franchise."[6] In August 2022, the film's official title and logo were revealed.[7] The logo was designed by J.J. Villard of King Star King, who made several concepts and let the film crew pick their favorite.[8] Additionally, it was confirmed that Kyler Spears would co-direct the feature alongside Rowe.[9] In April 2023, it emerged that Rogen, Goldberg, and Rowe, as well as writing team Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, would receive screenplay credit on the film, replacing O'Brien.[10]

From early in development, Rogen wanted the film to emphasize the teenage element of the Turtles.[4] Rowe compared Mutant Mayhem to the coming-of-age films Stand by Me (1986) and Lady Bird (2017) and remarked that his goal was to make "the ultimate teenage coming-of-age film". He described the Turtles as having "a lot of that inauthentic confidence that teenagers have", adding that "when you’re a teen, you don’t know any better, so you operate with this hyped-up sense of, ‘We can do anything!’"[11]

On March 4, 2023, during the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, Rogen revealed that actors Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon (all of whom were in attendance) had been cast in the voice roles of the Turtles: Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael respectively. Other cast members revealed in their respective roles in the ceremony include Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, and Rogen.[3][12] Cena, who voices Rocksteady, previously voiced the villain Baron Draxum in the first season of the television series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018–20).[13]

Abbey, Brown, Cantu, and Noon are the first teenage actors to portray the Turtles.[14] Rogen initially stated that they would cast teenagers for the parts in June 2021.[15] He felt that the decision made Mutant Mayhem stand out from previous versions of Turtles, saying that "something very intuitive became something that really opened up our version; it feels like it makes it feel very unique. Things like that, I think, are exciting ways to get into this stuff."[16]

In contrast to the norm for animation, the cast recorded their voice roles together in groups rather than independently from one another. A single recording session could include up to seven actors. This environment allowed for the cast to play off each other as well as employ a lot of improvisation in their performances.[17] Rogen was partly influenced to apply this approach to Mutant Mayhem from his experience recording The Lion King (2019) with Donald Glover and Billy Eichner. He described the process as follows: "For every session, we lumped people together. So every time the four turtles recorded, they were together. Me and John Cena were Bebop and Rocksteady, and we recorded together. Ice Cube has a bunch of scenes with the kids, and they recorded together. So we really went out of our way and bent over backwards on Ninja Turtles to try to capture that improvisational energy that you get when a lot of people are in the same place at the same time."[18]

Rogen directed particular praise towards Abbey, Brown, Cantu, and Noon and said that they tried to "capture the way they actually interacted with each other" in the film. He recalled an account of one recording session with the quartet and how "they would all hang out together in the kitchen of the recording studio, and they would all just talk over each other and make fun of each other; screaming at each other". According to him, the event was what pushed them to start having the four record together, as he felt that the energy was right for the film.[17]

The film's animation was provided by Mikros Animation in Montreal and Paris,[19][20] and Cinesite in Vancouver.[9][20] Mikros worked on the film's animation and style for over two years.[20]

Rowe was inspired by sketches he made in school notebooks as a teenager and how they tend to have a lot of exaggerated features, spikes, and random effects lines, and wanted the film's animation to reflect a similar feeling.[21]

In February 2023, Rogen said that Rowe compared the film's soundtrack to that of the Tony Hawk's video game series and revealed that it would incorporate songs from the 1999 original title. He described it as a "random assortment of music" that fits together well and shares the "same energy and spirit."[22]

Rowe discussed the film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022, where a brief bit of animation was shown. Rafael Motamayor of /Film compared the film's visual aesthetic to Arcane, both having a "punk" style that he described as fun.[21] To accompany the title announcement in August 2022, a mural promoting the film went up in New York City.[7] In December 2022, PeaTos and Paramount Consumer Products announced that PeaTos' Crunchy Pizza Rings would feature Mutant Mayhem branding in a promotion timed to the film's release.[26]

Along with the cast announcement, a sneak peek was shown at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 4, 2023.[27] Sixteen promotional images featuring logo artwork for each of the film's main characters were shared on social media.[28] A teaser trailer was released online on March 6, 2023, set to A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It?".[29] Charles Pulliam-Moore at The Verge gave the trailer a positive review and called the animation "gorgeous," highlighting its "sketch-like art direction and the gritty / grimy texturedness."[30] Writing for The Escapist, Matthew Razak similarly praised the trailer and noted the Turtles' more youthful nature compared to previous portrayals, saying that "these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles actually sound and look like teenagers."[31]

Extended footage from the film was shown at CinemaCon on April 27, 2023.[10] It was positively received by critics for its humor, animation, and voice performances.[32]

A line of action figures, vehicles, and role-play toys by Playmates Toys is scheduled to release on June 25, 2023.[33] An official Roblox video game developed by Gamefam is set to release alongside the film.[34]