Paramount’s animated reboot
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem doesn’t hit theaters until August, but the film made a splash on Monday (June 12) at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival where it debuted to a rousing reception complete with a six-minute standing ovation. The crowd’s applause was so strong, in fact, that director Jeff Rowe was dragged back onstage to take it all in.
“Being in the room and feeling all the reactions and hearing all the laughter was amazing, but what really stood out to me was to see our movie received and appreciated in that way by a lot of people who really love and care about animation,” Rowe told
TheWrap in a statement.
The cut screened at Annecy had just a few scenes of rough animation but was otherwise complete (including a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Those in the audience included The Mitchells vs. the Machines director Mike Rianda (Rowe was a co-director on that Oscar-nominated Sony/Netflix feature), Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch (Rowe was a writer on the show’s second season) and directors Peter Ramsey (Lost Ollie, The Mandalorian) and Kirk DeMicco (Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken).
“The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem screening was exactly what we look for and expect in terms of energy and fun,” Marcel Jean, Artistic Director of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival said. “We very much wanted to bring this film to the Festival, and what we realized tonight is that the Annecy audience who saw TMNT rediscovered these characters tonight and witnessed something totally new in the history of this franchise. So it was a great moment, I would say, in my history of being with the festival.”
Written by Rowe, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, Mutant Mayhem is a new take on the TMNT comics characters with a specific emphasis on them as teenagers, drawing inspiration from classic coming-of-age films.
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon voice the titular turtles, while the ensemble voice cast also includes Jackie Chan as Splinter, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Seth Rogen as Bebop and John Cena as Rocksteady alongside Post Malone, Rose Byrne, Ice Cube, Giancarlo Esposito, Maya Rudolph and Hannibal Buress.
This early reception may bode well as Sony’s similarly visually ambitious Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is racking up critical and commercial acclaim.
The official synopsis from Paramount and Nickelodeon reads:
"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 voice cast includes Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Nicolas Cantu, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Brady Noon, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Maya Rudolph. Seth Rogen pens the screenplay with longtime writing partners Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit. Jeff Rowe is also sitting in the director’s chair for this one with a co-direction from Kyler Spears. Rogen produces the film alongside Goldberg and Jeff Weaver, and the film’s executive producers include Ramsay McBean and Josh Fagen.
Are you excited about
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem? The mayhem begins in theaters on August 2, 2023!
Watch the trailer here!
See some of the fan reactions below.
