Credit: Nickelodeon Movies / Paramount PicturesIt’s definitely the year for animated movies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) took a big slice out of the box office this summer, grossing $167 million worldwide against a $70 million budget while impressing fans and critics.
Like this year’s other animated successes, The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Mutant Mayhem has a long history in pop culture, which started back in 1984 in the form of Mirage Studios’ gritty underground comic book series.
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After the arrival of its first animated series and live-action film, the franchise exploded onto the scene and became a global pop culture phenomenon known as Turtle-Mania. There was nowhere you could go in the early ’90s without seeing these pizza-munching reptiles.
Fast-forward some 30 years, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues to pull in the masses and capture the attention of new generations of children.
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Mutant Mayhem follows six previous films: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), TMNT (2007), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016).
What sets Mutant Mayhem apart from its predecessors, though, besides its unique animation style, is that it focuses on the teenage aspect of its titular characters. As such, the filmmakers cast actual teenagers into the roles of Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), and Raphael (Brady Noon).
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But the film hasn’t been without controversy. Many trolls took to X/Twitter to criticize the decision to portray budding journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) as a person of color, comparing it to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (2023), which received similar backlash.
Thankfully, this tiny slice of “fans” doesn’t represent the fanbase as a whole.
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The film is widely considered to be the best entry in the series. While there’s not much in the way of competition, the original live-action 1990 film — which was the highest-grossing independent film of all time for nine years — continues to be revered by fans.
Now, per Variety, just a little over two months after hitting movie theaters, you can finally bring the “mutant mayhem” home, as the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is officially available to stream on Paramount+ from September 19.
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Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon previously announced that Mutant Mayhem is the first installment in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shared universe.
While the film was still storming the box office, Paramount confirmed that it would be getting a follow-up in the form of a 2D animated television series titled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2023), which will premiere on the streaming service later this year.
The film will also be getting two other sequels, one in the form of a theatrical release, which Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe will be returning to helm, and the other as a video game from publisher Outright Games, scheduled for release in 2024.
Elsewhere in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, the popular comic book series “The Last Ronin” (2020) is getting a follow-up series set for release in December and a video game adaptation that recently had its first trailer.
“The Last Ronin” comic books are all on sale now. The third series, “Re-Evolution” (2023), goes on sale in December. There’s no release date for The Last Ronin game.
Check out the trailer for Mutant Mayhem below:
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As per Wikipedia, here’s the official synopsis for Mutant Mayhem:
After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtles 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 notorious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
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Mutant Mayhem stars Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Brady Noon (Raphael), Jackie Chan (Splinter), Ayo Edebiri (April O’Neil), Seth Rogen (Bebop), John Cena (Rocksteady), Hannibal Buress (Genghis Frog), Rose Byrne (Leatherhead), Ice Cube (Superfly), Post Malone (Ray Fillet), Paul Rudd (Mondo Gecko), Maya Rudolph (Cynthia Utrom), Natasia Demetriou (Wingnut), and Giancarlo Esposito (Baxter Stockman).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available on Paramount+.
Will you be streaming Mutant Mayhem this week? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!