Why Paramount’s R-Rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Was Canceled

The ink has barely dried on Skydance’s recent acquisition of Paramount Pictures, and we’re already seeing another casualty of new CEO David Ellison’s new regime.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin,” which was supposed to be an R-rated live-action film adapting one of the darkest stories in TMNT history, is now dead at the new Paramount, even though the project was announced in April 2024. According to The Hollywood Reporter“Fast and Furious” producer Neal H. Moritz is in talks to become the lead producer on a new live-action Turtles project, bringing to life a property that hasn’t had a live-action entry since 2016’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.” Unfortunately, that means the plan for this franchise is being reworked.

“The Last Ronin,” which had “Nobody” filmmaker Ilya Naishuller in talks to sit in the director’s chair, was supposed to mark the Turtles’ big return to live-action, but THR says the reason for the cancellation is that “the new regime wasn’t interested in the first non-animated movie in 10 years being a gory, adult-skewing story.” And this comes just a few days after Ellison and his team canceled the animated TV show “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” so the Turtles have been suffering quite a few bruises lately.

This kind of thing happens all the time. New leadership steps in and scraps a project because it was developed by the previous owners. If the movie was really allowed to come out and actually worked creatively and financially, the new people in charge couldn’t stand the thought of their predecessors taking the credit, so they played it safe, scrapped the whole thing and hired their own man to come in and change things.

Still, this may not be the end of “The Last Ronin.”

The Hollywood Reporter quotes a source as indicating that Paramount “wants to leave the door open to possibly revisit it in the future,” so just because this is being scrapped now doesn’t mean it’s dead for good.

Based on an IDW comic, “The Last Ronin” is a dark and gritty alternate universe story that follows the lone surviving member of the Ninja Turtles as he seeks to avenge the death of his brothers by killing Shredder’s grandson. In terms of violence, it’s like “Logan,” but with a Turtle at the center of the story, much harsher than the family violence of previous movies and TV shows. The comic hides Turtle’s identity as a main character for a long time, as flashbacks reveal how each of the brothers died. It’s a bleak story, but it’s beloved in the fan community, and considering how much money “Logan” made at the box office, you can probably understand why it was put into development as a live-action film.

Perhaps with Moritz overseeing the franchise, Paramount will resurrect this idea in a few years when they can claim full ownership over it. In the meantime, we are eagerly awaiting the sequel to the fantastic “Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”, which is scheduled for release on September 17, 2027.