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After an extended wait period, fans of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be able to watch the show’s film soon! Meant as a continuation to the series finale and aptly named Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, this new adventure will see our favorite anthropomorphic turtles rising to the occasion against certain world-ending doom.
Carrying over their work on the television series, Ant Ward and Andy Suriano will be directing the film. The score for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is composed by Matt Mahaffey, who also worked on the television series and has written the music for a number of Nickelodeon’s other shows, such as Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan and Sanjay and Craig. Moving on from the writing of music to the writing of the film itself, Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May have taken the helm. Gama-Lobo has done previous work for Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with credit as a writer for season two’s finale. Rebecca May doesn’t seem to have any prior creative roles within the show, but she (along with Gama-Lobo) worked previously on King of the Hill for a number of years.
Let’s recap the basics of everything we know so far about Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and get caught up to speed!
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Plot
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Many of the finer details about Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie have been kept carefully under wraps. As the release date gets closer, more information should emerge. Anything we know so far about the film’s plot was confirmed back in January 2021 on the film’s official Twitter account. The synopsis revealed is:
"A stranger from the future will reveal themselves to the turtles while carrying a dire warning. In the face of this threat, Leo will have to rise up to lead his brothers — Raph, Donnie, and Mikey — on a mission to save their planet from the frightening alien species known as the Krang."
The show, which aired from July 20, 2018, to August 7, 2020, follows the Turtles as they "work together to discover more about their mystic ninja powers and the hidden magical realm beneath the sewers of New York City."
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cast
Fans will be happy to know that the cast from the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television show will be returning to their roles for the film. For our turtles: Ben Schwartz as Leonardo, Omar Benson Miller as Raphael, Brandon Mychal Smith as Michelangelo, and Josh Brener as Donatello. As for the supporting cast and side characters, Kat Graham is providing the voice of April O’Neil, our heroes’ fun-loving older sister figure and friend. Eric Bauza will return as the mutated rat Splinter, a sensei and father figure to the turtles.
Something interesting to take note of is that Haley Joel Osment has been cast in the film for a currently unknown role. Osment is perhaps best known for playing Cole Sear in M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 film The Sixth Sense. While his live-action roles could be considered sporadic at best, fans of the Kingdom Hearts series of video games will be familiar with his longtime voice work as protagonist Sora and villain Vanitas. We’re eager to see who he could be playing in this new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film!
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Release Date & How to Watch
Upon its release, fans can watch Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie on Netflix. The streaming giant announced its involvement in the film's production back in February 2019, alongside a similar announcement for the film based on The Loud House. As of now, there don’t seem to be any plans for a theatrical release of the film, which is common enough for movies released on the streaming service.
Fortunately for fans, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles does have a release date! The film’s official Twitter revealed back in April of this year that fans can expect the movie on August 5, 2022. This followed the film’s production completion, which wrapped up on April 7, 2022.
Originally, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie was meant to release on August 27, 2021, but this release date was scrapped as, reportedly, the film was not completed in time. It’s unknown why this wound up being the case. However, the film and television industry at large was thoroughly rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, so any difficulties regarding those circumstances cannot be ruled out. Whatever the case may be, fans will be able to watch our favorite half-shell heroes on their new adventure in a few months!