Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to buy or rent on Digital from Paramount Home Entertainment. Jeff Rowe, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg's reboot is one of the year's best-reviewed movie and a new beginning for the awesome foursome which has been embraced by fans of all ages.
Those of you who purchase the film on Digital will be able to delve into the making of the movie with over 40 minutes of bonus content. That means getting to join the young new voice cast as they explore the "teen" in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before going behind the scenes with the all-star voice cast, including Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, and many more.
As if that's not enough, this release also includes featurettes exploring the film's unique animation style and even a lesson on how to draw the leader of the Ninja Turtles, Leonardo!
A few days ago, we were fortunate enough to speak with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman to get his thoughts on Mutant Mayhem's exciting new take on the long-running franchise. We were particularly curious to find out how he felt about the movie's game-changing ending.
In that [SPOILER WARNING], the Heroes in a Half-Shell are embraced by the public as heroes and end up attending high school, sans disguises, as themselves. This is the first time we've seen that happen, with it seemingly setting the stage for the Paramount+ TV series that's expected to be released before a planned big screen sequel.
"Well, it’s definitely [different]," Eastman tells us in the video above. "It’s something where we always loved the secrecy and secret identity of different characters like Spider-Man. He was obviously a big inspiration when it comes to having a teenager in high school, but we have tried a few concepts even on Nickelodeon where they’d have a cloaking device which made them look like teenagers and they’d go out for a Pizza Friday thing."
"But it’s always been on the cusp and we’ve never found a way to make it would that would be acceptable. I think because of the pop culture-isms of there being so many comic book universe stories that have been done in a way that’s it’s becoming more accepted, you can now cross that line and make it more of an accepted thing than you could have done even five or ten years ago."
"I think the timeliness of it was right and it was an idea we wanted to try, even adding a female Turtle into some of the original comics that we’re still working on," he continues. "The timing was right and I think it works real good. It feels story-first, organic, and not forced. It feels like it was meant to be that way."
We're curious to see where this is heading and, while it's the teens being legit high school students is something new for them, it felt like the right note to end Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello's story on. However, with Splinter looming, this happy ending seems unlikely to last!
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to buy or rent on Digital.