Alright, who was it who plunked down their hard-earned cash to watch the painfully dull CGI-fest that was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in August? Come on, fess up. I’ll wait… It was you?!? Gah, I thought so. Someone must have seen it, because somehow the franchise reboot grossed $477 million worldwide, leading Paramount to eagerly greenlight (*shudder*) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Now, we’re hearing that another key piece of the puzzle is about to fall in place for the fast-tracked sequel, with Earth to Echo director David Green reportedly in early talks to direct.
It’s a little surprising that Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles), the director of the first installment, wasn’t asked back, especially given how excited he appeared to be about the prospect of turning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into a bona fide franchise. However, it seems evident that Paramount wanted to go in a different direction for the sequel and so opened up the title to a director search. Green, whose debut film was a kid-centic sci-fi pic done in a found-footage format, has been in demand for months now.
Michael Bay will once again produce the sequel, returning alongside Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. During a recent talk with Omelete, Form dropped one interesting tidbit about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2:
“We can say that Bebop and Rocksteady are in the film, and Casey Jones is a character that we love and we’re trying to fit him in as well.”
The pair also confirmed that Megan Fox, Will Arnett and the Shredder villain (played by William Fichtner in the first installment) will all appear in the sequel. It’s a given that the Turtles (portrayed by Johnny Knoxville, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek and Noel Fisher) and Splinter (portrayed by Danny Woodburn and Tony Shalhoub) will be back, too.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 has been dated for June 3rd, 2016. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more about it.
