Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem takes some big swings with the franchise, specifically a stylized animation aesthetic and an infusion of silly, adolescent humor–including an ongoing milking bit. So writer Seth Rogen admits he was a bit on edge showcasing the movie for the first time to Nickelodeon bigwigs.
Variety reports Rogen recalled what it was like presenting Mutant Mayhem to Nickelodeon president of animation Ramsey Ann Naito. “We were so nervous and scared that we were going to show them a scene from the movie and they would be like, ‘What? No,” the screenwriter and producer said. “They loved it, and they were so supportive.
“They didn’t discourage us from making it insane. They probably tried to make us cut one or two milking jokes, but we said no.”
Nickelodeon (and Paramount) clearly felt confident about the animated movie, since a Mutant Mayhem TV series and sequel have already been announced. In fact, the projects were revealed to be in development a week before the movie premiered in theaters. Mutant Mayhem went on to make over $180 million at the worldwide box office, according to Box Office Mojo.
As for the Mutant Mayhem sequel, it sounds like Rogen and director Jeff Rowe plan to utilize the teased Shredder as the main foil to the turtles. “Shredder is the coolest villain in the TMNT lore. He is this world’s Joker, and we had considered using him for the first film, but it didn’t work for a lot of story reasons,” Rowe said. “Ultimately, it felt good to not lean into him as a character, but now we have a chance to, and we’ll see how that goes.”
For more, check out GameSpot’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem review.
