Credit: Inside the MagicRecent weeks have seen Paramount push the TMNT brand into never-before-explored corners of the entertainment industry, with a themed pizzeria now open on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade in LA (with more set to open in other locations later this year), and a newly announced live production coming next year titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live on Stage!
The franchise now also has its first-ever adult novel with The Last Ronin: A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Novel, a full prose adaptation of the acclaimed IDW Publishing comic storyline, The Last Ronin. In addition to all of this groundbreaking TMNT content and experiences, the wider franchise continues with animated projects, theatrical films, and new video game projects.
Taking all that into account, especially the pizzerias and the live stage show, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the Ninja Turtles get their first-ever major theme park attraction or land.
What Would a Proper TMNT Attraction Look Like?
While the half-shell heroes have long dominated toys, games, comics, television, and movies, they’ve yet to get a major theme park ride. That’s not to say they’ve never appeared in a park, though — there was a meet-and-greet experience at Disney World’s then-Disney-MGM Studios in the early to mid ’90s, during the height of the huge pop culture craze known as “Turtle-mania.”
Now, it feels like a very real possibility. One can’t help but think of the upcoming Universal United Kingdom Resort, which is set to open to the public in Bedfordshire, UK, in 2031. While that destination has yet to announce any lands or attractions, could there be room for a long-awaited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles attraction? Perhaps, but let’s forget about where a TMNT attraction might show up for the time being, and instead focus on what one might actually entail.
With the themed pizzerias based entirely around the original 1987 cartoon series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987–1996), it’s not unreasonable to think that a theme park attraction would follow suit. The happy-faced heroes in a half-shell and the overall vibrant aesthetic of the show would translate well into a theme park setting, whether as a ride or a themed land, or both.
Think interactive character experiences, themed dining (with lots of pizza, obviously), merchandise outlets, and, of course, a main attraction where guests are taken through dark, winding sewer tunnels aboard a log flume, while state-of-the-art animatronic characters from the 1987 series, from Splinter, Shredder, April O’Neil, Casey Jones, and the Turtles themselves populate the river’s edge.
Related: R-Rated TMNT Project No Longer Canceled, First Official Trailer for New Project Revealed
Will the Live TMNT Show Be Based Around the 1987 Cartoon?
While the pizzeria in LA is based directly on the 1987 series (the upcoming ones in Monterrey, Mexico and São Paulo are confirmed to be doing the same), Paramount hasn’t outright confirmed whether Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live on Stage! will also adopt the same aesthetic.
However, Josh Silverman, President of Global Products & Experiences for Paramount (per Variety) emphasized that they’re “bringing the Turtles to an exciting new storytelling platform while staying true to the energy, humor, and heart fans have loved for more than four decades.”
Again, that doesn’t quite confirm that the show will be themed around the 1987 Turtles, but the words “fans have loved for more than four decades” could be a good sign. However, Variety‘s description suggests that the show could be more of a melting pot of the Turtles’ history, saying, “The new production will follow Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo from their comic book origins to becoming global pop culture icons, battling familiar villains along the way.”
After all, that original cartoon is still easily the most recognizable iteration of the Ninja Turtles, which likely owes thanks to it being kept alive by millennial fans, while also remaining alive through things like collectible action figures (courtesy of the likes of NECA), retro-inspired arcade games such as 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and IDW’s Saturday Morning Adventures comics, which take place in the same universe as the 1987 series.
Of course, there are already Ninja Turtles-themed theme park attractions, such as TMNT Shellraiser, a roller coaster at Nickelodeon Universe amusement park in New Jersey, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shell Shock, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly ride at Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Shredder’s Mutant Masher, a pendulum-style thrill ride located at several other international Nickelodeon-themed parks.
However, not only do they lack the ambition and scale of attractions found at Disney World and Universal Studios, none are inspired by the 1987 cartoon.
For more about the new TMNT pizzeria in LA, there’s a dedicated interactive website. And for more news on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live on Stage!, visit TMNTLiveOnStage.com.
Would you like to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show up at Universal United Kingdom Resort? Share your ideas with us in the comments down below!
