The iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is making a comeback on the big screen with a new live-action movie aimed at adult audiences. Paramount Pictures is taking a different approach by developing a project based on the graphic novel series 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.'
The screenplay for this gritty and intense adaptation is being crafted by Tyler Burton Smith and Walter Hamada's 18hz production company. The miniseries, which ran from 2020 to 2022, was penned by original 'Turtles' creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, with Eastman and Tom Waltz working on the script for the movie.
'The Last Ronin' is set in a dark and dystopian future where Oroku Hiroto, the grandson of the Turtles' longtime enemy Shredder, rules over a totalitarian New York City. Hiroto has eliminated all but one of the Turtles and their mentor, Splinter. The lone surviving Turtle embarks on a quest for vengeance, wielding all four of their iconic weapons.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, born as a comic book series in 1984, has evolved into a cultural phenomenon over the past four decades. Initially conceived as a parody of popular comic book conventions, the series gained immense popularity, leading to the creation of a toy line, an animated TV show, numerous video games, and a total of seven feature films in both live-action and animation formats since 1990.
The most recent film installment, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,' released in 2023, was well-received by audiences, grossing $118.6 million domestically and $180.5 million worldwide. 'The Last Ronin' represents a bold new direction for the franchise, targeting an adult audience following the success of the graphic novel series, which ranked as the second best-selling graphic novel in 2023 according to Circana BookScan.
