David Green to Direct 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2'

The interesting thing about the $480M success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles earlier this year is that it wasn't just fueled by nostalgia. Instead it was largely a movie for kids, and obviously families turned out for it in droves. Paramount wants to keep with a kid-centric theme for the heroes on the halfshell's sequel, making the move to hire Earth to Echo director David Green.

This comes as a surprise because Jonathan Liebesman had been making the rounds talking about what was next for the Turtles, but Paramount wanted to try something new and began looking at other directors. Green made his debut with Earth to Echo, a Spielberg-esque fantasy adventure that earned $45M on a small budget and no household names.

Megan Fox and Will Arnett are expected to return as April O'Neil and Vernon Fenwick, while the Shredder character will also be back. Who may be by his side? Dopey fan-favorite villains Bebop and Rocksteady will finally make their way to the screen, and Bay says Casey Jones could be bringing his hockey sticks to the fight. He recently told Omelete...

Bay: “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”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 opens June 3rd 2016.

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Is Krang Set to Appear in the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Sequel?

Over the weekend Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slice and diced its way to a bigger than expected $90M+ opening worldwide, giving Paramount the confidence to announce a sequel for 2016. This comes after the production was plagued with troubles, beginning with a leaked script that fans rebelled loudly against. That script would have involved alien worlds and the possibility of the Turtles as extraterrestrials. But now that the first film is in the can and a proven hit, might that storyline be revisited in the next one? And might it involve Dimension X , the homeworld of the Turtles' alien enemy, Krang?

Screen Rant had a chance to sit down with director Jonathan Liebesman and producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, with the discussion turning to the chances of seeing Dimension X and other interplanetary elements brought to the sequel. Their answers suggest enthusiasm to do exactly that, but also to use the previously-written scripts (which the fans hated, just a reminder) as the template....

Jonathan Liebesman: I would love to. I mean it’s not up to me. It’s up to all of us to decide.

Brad Fuller: But we’ve talked about those worlds already

Andrew Form: There are scripts that have been written for this movie that integrated those worlds into it already…

Jonathan Liebesman: They were just too…it made the movie a bit too unfocused for this particular story.

Krang is my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character not named Raphael, even though he mainly appeared in the 1980s cartoon series as an ally of Shredder. He was the tyrannical leader of an army or rock soldiers, but was banished to Earth and stripped of his body. Now he resembles a talking brain and uses a powerful robotic exo-skeleton when he needs to get around or fight battles. The alien race Krang is a part of, the Utroms, were introduced in the original Eastman & Laird comic so it's not as if TMNT doesn't already have aspects that reach far off-world. And if Krang is going to appear might I suggest James Franco to voice him? Just throwing that out there. He DID play 'Alien' in Spring Breakers, after all.

Bear in mind that Liebesman hasn't been confirmed to return for the sequel, but screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec are returning along with Michael Bay as producer.

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Cowabunga: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2' Already Set for 2016

After a troubled production that would harsh even Michaelangelo's buzz, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles quieted the nay-sayers with a $65M opening weekend and $93M worldwide. That far exceeded analyst projects and Paramount isn't wasting any time in taking advantage of it, announcing that a sequel is already in development with a release date in sight.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 is set to open June 3rd 2016, which would put it up against Seth Rogen's R-rated animated comedy, Sausage Party. Michael Bay will again be co-producing through his Platinum Dunes banner, with co-writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec back to write the screenplay and exec-produce.

Here's what Adam Goodman, President of Paramount's film division, had to say on the rapid move on a sequel...

"Launching a new take on the Turtles into the feature film world was a daunting task because as fans of them ourselves, we felt a great responsibility to ensure audiences were going to experience everything they loved about the Turtles, while also getting to see them brought to life in a way they had never been seen before. The result exceeded our high expectations and the response to the film is beyond great, making it all the more fun to get started on the continuation of their story."

No word on whether Jonathan Liebesman will return to direct, or if any of the performance-capture actors will reprise their roles. There's also nothing on the return of Megan Fox but she would have to be expected to return as April O'Neil. [THR]

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