Earlier at CinemaCon, Paramount announced a live-action R-rated adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. In the vein of Dark Knight Returns, TMNT: The Last Ronini s set in an alternate dystopian future and finds Michelangelo, the team’s usual party dude, as the last remaining turtle on a quest to avenge his family.
Former DC Films president Walter Hamada producing through his 18hz production company, as part of his multi-year deal with the studio, with Tyler Burton Smith, who wrote the 2019 Child’s Play reboot, penning the script.
Since The Last Ronin has been a smash hit for publisher IDW since it first came out back in 2020, spawning not just action figures but even a video game adaptation. In fact, a sequel miniseries, The Last Ronin II: Re-Evolution, focusing on the new generation of Ninja Turtles came out earlier this year. So the news of an R-rated live-action adaptation doesn’t come as a complete surprise. In fact, when I interviewed Last Ronin writer Tom Waltz at NYCC last October, he had a strong feeling it wouldn’t be long before we’d see other media adaptations.
I’m not going to doubt anything anymore. Getting Last Ronin done was a huge job for us and a huge accomplishment. We thought if that was all we did, we were happy. We told the story we wanted to tell. When it took off like it did, all of a sudden, we started seeing statues. It was happening so fast. I think it even surprised Paramount and Nickelodeon because they were selling out. We had the toy companies asking us to send more toy designs. Even obscure Foot ninja called the synja. They wanted everything. That made me realize there’s a market for this. People want these things. We absolutely hope that carries over. The Last Ronin video game has been announced from AAA Games. It’s very loyal to the story we told. I would not be shocked if there’s some sort of Ronin movie or TV series. They’ve got to be considering it.
Like many hardcore TMNT fans, I adored the original live-action 1990 movie that skewed closer to the original Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird comics while still making it fun and entertaining for kids. Nevertheless, some people (like Jim Henson whose creature workshop worked) turtle costumes) took issue with some of the violence. Hence the radical shift in tone for the sequel. It looks like that won’t be an issue with this Last Ronin film.
Admittedly, Paramount’s previous attempts to translate the Ninja Turtles into live-action with producer Michael Bay did not go over incredibly well. Hopefully, the studio will have learned from its mistakes. Let’s just hope the CGI designs of the turtles won’t be as funky as the Bay movies.
