What we know about the Ninja Turtles movie reboot

We know that a Ninja Turtles film reboot is on the way, but what do we really know about the project so far?

Although several months away, Ninja Turtles fans are eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot by Platinum Dunes. A lot of the same producers from the last two movies are back for this reboot, including the blockbuster director Michael Bay. Platinum Dunes, who produced the previously mentioned movies, will be producing this movie, as well.

The producing company matters because we can generally see what certain studios are succeeding and struggling with. Platinum has recently produced:

• A Quiet Place
• Black Sails (TV show)
• The Purge series
• The Transformers series
• A collection of horror movies including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Ouija, Friday the 13th (2009), The Amityville Horror (2005), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).

There is good news and bad news in reviewing the results of that collection of films.

The good: A Quiet Place and Black Sails were phenomenal. Black Sails is my favorite TV show of all time and A Quiet Place was critically acclaimed. Additionally, the people involved directly with Quite Place (Andrew Form and Brad Fuller) seem to be heavily involved in this reboot.

Keep an eye on the former Black Sails cast and crew. If names start popping up with this new movie, that could be very good news.

The Bad: Andrew and Brad were also involved with the last two Turtles movies. Even more concerning is that the latest Transformers title, Bumblebee, was not associated with this studio. That movie was a ray of hope that Bay and co. were figuring out ’80s Sci-Fi nostalgia. However, that ray of light doesn’t seem to be hitting this new title.

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The more concerning part of this production company is that they seem to produce a lot of sub-par horror movies that rely on gimmicky visual effects and not so much on great storytelling (sound familiar?). The business model for these films is nothing short of a milking process — keep producing sequels until the market grows tired of the repeated formula and then move on.

We also know who the writers are. They are Lindsey Beer, writing the screenplay, and Andrew Dodge writing the script. Neither of them should be familiar to you because neither of them has almost any experience. Lindsey has only one film under her belt, a teen rom-com titled Sierra Burgess Is a Loser. Andrew has a tad more experience, with his most well-known title being Bad Words. His most recent credit is as a writer on the currently-filming Space Jam 2.

So we have two practically brand new writers being given a multimillion-dollar title, which is being produced by a company that is known for squeezing every last cent out of cliché films.

While attending a private dinner with Ninja Turtles co-creator, Kevin Eastman, he was asked what his role was in the last films. To put it lightly and directly, not much of his input was utilized. That is very concerning in regards to a studio realizing they may be out of their element and getting outside source advice.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of faith going into this second big-screen reboot. Unless Platinum Dunes and Bay and his team take a page out of Bumblebee’s book and realign their design strategy, this could be another Michael Bay special of a money grab via explosions and Hulk-esque designs.