‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Heading Back to the Big Screen for 35th Anniversary

The Mutant Ninja Turtles aren’t teenagers anymore, as their classic 1990 film is returning to the big screen for its 35th anniversary. To this day, the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is held up by fans as one of, if not the best, adaptations of the heroes in a half-shell, combining the dark, gritty aesthetic of the original Mirage Comics with the colorful personalities of the heroes from the beloved 1987 animated series. The Jim Henson Company’s impressive costumes, which brought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to life, still loom large in the public consciousness of how the audience imagines the characters in live-action.

Fathom Events, in partnership with IGN, will be screening Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in theaters to celebrate its 35th anniversary. The film will play in select theaters on Aug. 17 and 20th, 2025. Turtles Unmasked, a new featurette for the film, will also precede the screenings. The featurette features never-before-seen archival footage, extended deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes home movie footage, along with commentary from the film’s director, Steve Barron.

Despite the cartoon series and toyline being one of the most popular brands, no studio wanted to produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles following the disastrous response to Masters of the Universe in 1987. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was an independent production that New Line Pictures acquired the distribution rights for. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened in theaters on March 30, 1990, and went on to gross $135 million. It became the ninth-highest-grossing movie of 1990, but was the most successful independent film at the time and held the record for nine years, until the release of The Blair Witch Project.

Turtle Power!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is easily one of the most influential comic book movies of all time. Released less than a year after Tim Burton’s Batman, it was seen as an early success story in a new age of comic book movies and the start of a push in the decade to adapt underground cult comic series like The Rocketeer, Barb Wire, and Tank Girl. While none of those films took off, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got two live-action sequels, a spin-off live-action television series, and a loose animated follow-up in 2007 before the film franchise was rebooted in 2014.

Now, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand is still going strong with fans eagerly anticipating the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Even 35 years later, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains a classic that still dazzles audiences as they get to see these legendary cartoon and comic book characters visualized on screen in a way that no amount of CGI can ever top. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may show its age in some respects, but it remains totally radical and makes an audience want to scream “cowabunga!”

Source: IGN