Seth Rogen is rebooting 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' with a coming-of-age story
- Seth Rogen spoke to Insider about his plans for his animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie that his production company Point Grey Pictures is making.
- Rogen said that he's hoping for a movie that's not just a great action movie but also a great teen movie.
- The recent live-action "Ninja Turtles" movies have been bashed by critics and the last release, 2016's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" couldn't earn $100 million at the domestic box office ($82 million).
Seth Rogen believes he's the best person to revive the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise because he has experience doing teen movies.
Whether it's writing a high school comedy like "Superbad" with his producing partner Evan Goldberg or producing successful ones like "Blockers" or "Good Boys," he always seems to have the gift to tap into our adolescence.
And he's going to get his chance with the "Ninja Turtles" as he's currently producing an animated reboot of the heroes in a half shell for Nickelodeon. It is set to be directed by Jeff Rowe ("Connected") and written by the "Neighbors" franchise screenwriter Brendan O'Brien.
However, Rogen said he's up for the challenge.
"When I look at 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' the teenage part was weirdly what stuck out to me the most," Rogen told Insider recently while he was promoting his new movie "An American Pickle" (available now on HBO Max). "I think one thing we've been pretty consistently good at over the years is creating material about teenagers, from 'Blockers,' 'Good Boys,' and 'Superbad.' That was really what became exciting for us is how do we make a great action-adventure movie that's also a great teenage movie."
Rogen said that recently he and Goldberg had a call with the creatives on the movie in which they worked out the movie's plot. The duo also said they're taking the movie seriously, even hopping on another call after being left out of the loop on some of the movie's notes.
"We freaked out more than normal," Goldberg told Insider. "They were just shocked by that, but we were like, 'Guys, we just really care about this.'"
The "Ninja Turtles" need a nice jolt since the recent live-action movies have not been that impressive.
Both 2014's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (21%) and 2016's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" (37%) have rotten scores on Rotten Tomatoes and "Out of the Shadows" couldn't even earn $100 million at the domestic box office ($82 million).
Rogen's "Turtles" is a Nickelodeon movie, so don't expect the typical teen R-rated flavor Rogen and Goldberg give us, but it's exciting to see the duo getting a shot at a big-budget franchise.