The co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman, described his enthusiasm for Seth Rogen's upcoming film reboot of the franchise.
In a new interview with IGN, Eastman spoke about his excitement for Rogen's film. He told the outlet that he was a "big fan" of the comedian's work, but that he was not involved with the project in any capacity. "No, I have not spoken to [Rogen], and that's also awesome because I do feel like different parts of the Turtles, different universes that Nickelodeon would bring me to work on," Eastman said. "And so that's what I think is special. Because I don't want him to feel intimidated or think that if he asks me a question, I tell him, 'Well, you should do this,' that he should do that. It's his vision and his idea."
Eastman added that the fact that Rogen was helming the movie without the help of the TMNT's original creators was "personally exciting to me and I think that's what's going to be exciting for the fans when they finally see the movie." Eastman, along with co-creator Peter Laird, first published TMNT as a comic book in 1984. From there, the franchise has expanded to animated and live-action television shows, films, and video games - including the Cowabunga Collection which releases in August 2022.
It was first announced in June 2020 that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film franchise would be rebooted and Rogen would be leading the project. The movie - which will be the seventh TMNT project to hit the big screens - is slated to be an animated production directed by Jeff Rowe. Seth Rogen, along with his longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg, will serve as producers.
Beyond animation, the turtles have also been adapted into live-action, most recently in 2016 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The live-action reptiles are now preparing to rear their heads again, with another project currently in development at Paramount. While the film is still reportedly in the early stages of development, in 2021 the project tapped Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost, along with his brother Casey, to write the script.
Seth Rogen's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated reboot is set for an Aug. 11, 2023 release date.
Source: IGN