New Live Action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles In 2011

The Mirage Group has given the green light for development of a live-action major motion picture focusing on the origins of the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, targeted for release in 2011.

Announcement of the latest (fifth) big screen version of the crime-fighting "heroes in a half-shell" comes on the day the Turtles kick off their 25th anniversary national "Shell-ebration" in New York City with multiple events that include the honor of lighting the Empire State Building in 'turtle green' and a unique outdoor presentation of their beloved first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film at the Tribeca Film Festival "Drive-In".

Mirage is partnering with producers Scott Mednick (300, 10,000 BC) and Galen Walker (who produced the recent CGI TMNT release) to create this live-action film. Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick Fierst, Eric Crown and Napoleon Smith III will serve as executive producers of the film, which is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Laird and Kevin Eastman. Mednick and Walker will serve as producers. The project is being funded through Lightbox Productions, LLC.

Mednick has begun reaching out to writers and directors and is already in discussion with several high-profile actors interested in portraying Turtles characters they loved as kids.

Thoughts:

Wow, I cant believe its been 25 years since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first became a success. About time they returned to live action since fans of the series have been waiting forever for another film. I personally haven't seen TMNT, but I did think the art style they went with was pretty cool. I enjoyed the first 3 live action films and thought they were fun. I'm not sure how I really feel about this franchise since its been a really long time since I have seen those films. 2011 also seems like a really long time for another movie. I'm not sure how the film is going to play out especially with heavy hitters like Spider-Man 4 and more Marvel films coming out that same year.