Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opened to positive reviews earlier this year and, after a respectable $180.5 million haul on a modest $70 million budget, Paramount Pictures now has big plans for the franchise.
As well as a two-season TV series and video game, a big screen sequel is also on the way. After defeating Superfly in the first movie, a post-credits scene set the stage for the awesome foursome to square off with Shredder, perhaps their most iconic foe on the page and screen.
Talking to Empire Online (via Toonado.com), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe looked back on very nearly putting Shredder front and centre in the first instalment. "Shredder used to be the main villain before we pivoted away from that," he explains before reasoning, "They saved Joker for The Dark Knight."
"The one thing I can say without spoiling anything is, [Shredder] needs to be 100 times scarier than Superfly – who is a credible villain, he’s dangerous, he’s strong, he seems like he could mess the Turtles up," the filmmaker continues. "Shredder needs to be that, just significantly more."
"It’ll be really interesting to see these fun-loving characters go up against something that maybe they can’t stop."
Earlier this year, we caught up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and asked what he believes this movie added to the legacy of the Heroes in a Half-Shell.
"I think you touched on it a bit earlier with the accessibility and freshness to it. One of the most unique ideas in the movie I thought was the creation of the Turtles and the mutation process with the ‘Ooooze’ - it rolls off the tongue [Laughs] - with the other mutant characters they’ve created."
"It gives us a storytelling platform that’s unique to itself and the Mayhem Universe, but it also creates this wonderful platform and bond to tell lots of different stories. Yeah, man, I guess it’s just exciting to think about the possibilities of where it can go and, to me, as a fan and a proud dad and co-parent, I’m excited to see what comes next."
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.
Directed by Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available where you buy movies.