Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will tell an original story following the crime-fighting Ninja Turtles as they protect the sewers and streets of New York City, with Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Brady Noon (Raphael) playing the four Heroes in a Half Shell.
Thanks to Empire Online, we have a new look at the iconic foursome, while director Jeff Rowe has talked more about his main sources of inspiration when it came to putting a fresh spin on the iconic franchise.
"We wanted it to be like Stand By Me and Lady Bird. But, you know, with Ninja Turtles," he says, calling this "the ultimate teenage coming-of-age film."
"They’ve got a lot of that inauthentic confidence that teenagers have," Rowe says of Mutant Mayhem's young cast. "When you’re a teen, you don’t know any better, so you operate with this hyped-up sense of, 'We can do anything!'"
While many fans would love to see a new live-action take on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this animated spin might be exactly what the property needs to bounce back after those divisive Michael Bay-produced efforts...
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts.
Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
The cast also includes Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, John Cena as Rocksteady, Jackie Chan as Splinter, Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is set to be released in theaters on August 4, 2023.