The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have really stood the test of time. First concocted by Eastman and Laird 35 years ago in 1984, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michaelangelo have been the names of turtles rather than renaissance painters as far as children are concerned for decades now.
Over the years, we’ve had various takes on bringing the characters to live action, a handful of animated movies and all manner of things in between (with another live action film reportedly in development). Now, though, it seems that their next stop’s going to be Netflix.
The movie’s part of a deal for two films struck between Nickelodeon and the streaming giant. The first will be based on animated show The Loud House and the second will be a feature-length spinoff of the current Turtles show Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The series aims to separate itself from the many other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons by showing us their earliest days as vigilantes. This means that, curiously, there’s been not much sign of the Foot Clan or Shredder in the show, with the enemies generally mystical in nature and springing from New York’s “hidden city.” It seems inevitable that it’ll have to introduce those characters at some point, though, so why not make a bang by making their first appearance in New York the plot of this animated movie?
Whatever the case, it looks like Nickelodeon and Netflix are building quite a tight partnership. The two studios are already working together on the cartoon Pinky Malinky and are currently producing a live action take on Avatar: The Last Airbender (which should hopefully mean we never, ever have to think about the dreadful M. Night Shyamalan movie ever again). After all, Nickelodeon and Netflix will soon have a huge rival in Disney’s own streaming service, so arrangements like these have got to be mutually beneficial to both companies, right?