Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies revealed over 20 minutes of new footage from upcoming animated movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and IGN was in the audience to take it all in. Here’s what we saw (spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem follow!).
The footage kicked off with a clip IGN premiered last week in which the Turtles suit up before preparing to stealthily go grocery shopping. Here's that clip, in case you missed it:
From there, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael enter a bodega and try to dodge security cameras while shoplifting supplies and food. Job done, the Turtles hitch a ride back to Manhattan on a truck roof. A news report displayed on an enormous screen reveals crime is rising under a mastermind known as Superfly.
The Turtles watch an outdoor screening of 1980s coming of age classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which is live-action while the audience is animated. “Maybe one day everyone will love us like they love Ferris Bueller,” one Turtle laments. The quartet wistfully stare at the movie screen and audience before they escape into the sewers.
The Turtles try to sneak home but a wide-awake Splinter catches them. Of course, Leo owns up to their late night shenanigans. You can see a short clip of this scene in the video below:
Splinter, being Splinter, admonishes the Turtles for risking interaction with humans. Splinter recounts his origin to teach them a valuable lesson about humans. He says humans are the worst - his best friend was a cockroach who was stepped on. We then see Splinter eat his cockroach friend. What’s a rat going to do?
Splinter discovers four adorable baby turtles in the sewer in the green ooze fans know all too well. They transform. Splinter’s transformation is like body horror. Splinter raises the toddler turtles via an adorable montage. We see bath time, all the Turtles sleeping in Splinter’s bed, and their curiosity about the outside world even as kids. Enamoured, Splinter grants the Turtles a trip to the human world.
In Times Square, Splinter is carrying the kids when a woman bumps into him. Soon the whole crowd freaks out and chase Splinter and the Turtles off. They’re almost run over by vehicles as they make their escape. After the incident, Splinter swears to protect the Turtles, training them during a typical martial arts movie montage.
We shift back to the present, when Splinter grounds the Turtles for a month. They’re unhappy, as you’d expect. Donnie asks Leo if it was worth it, which saddens him. We see the Turtles lying in their bads wondering what they’d do if they were normal. They could go to the prom, they suggest, before discounting the possibility.
Now we’re out in NYC at dusk. A human “road crew” working for Superfly pulls a heist on an armored truck and steals what was inside. Police chase after the road crew’s truck. Suddenly, a winged creature seizes the truck and flies off with it to a hidden location. Turns out the creature is Superfly, who we presume eats the crew. We see what was stolen: a mysterious radioactive device.
We cut to Maya Rudolph’s character who, at a headquarters, dishes out tracking units to vehicles to try to catch up to Superfly. The Turtles, meanwhile, are on a rooftop. Donnie is holding a watermelon over his head so the brothers can enjoy a spot of target practice. The Turtles hear a crash below, caused by an errant ninja star. The crash involved a scooter belonging to… April! Someone steals the scooter - Leo insists he retrieve it for this beautiful and charming human woman. The turtles leap into action and chase the thief back to a chop shop.
The Turtles, who have never been in a real fight before, draw their weapons. Mikey gets a ninja star in his leg before the human thieves initiate a brawl. The Turtles use whatever they can to fight. “Go, Ninja, Go!” plays at one point. The fight trashes the chop shop.
Eventually, the Turtles emerge victorious and find April’s scooter. When April walks in the Turtles hide in the shadows. April says they’re “sus” for doing so. Slowly, the Turtles enter the light. April thinks they’re human crime fighters in turtle costumes. “Can we explain this over pizza?” one Turtle says. “How do you feel about pepperoni?” April replies. “I didn’t think it would get this far,” Donnie says.
That’s the end of the footage! The panel also saw TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman deliver a special announcement: Nickelodeon and Paramount have secured the rights to run the original series starting next year.
We end with another clip from Mutant Mayhem. We see April and the Turtles in a stakeout of a meeting of the mutants. “I’m going to win a daytime Emmy,” April says to herself as she records the meeting on her phone.
Superfly confronts the Turtles. “I can’t believe there are other mutants like us,” Mikey says. Superfly says the same ooze that made the Turtles made Superfly and his crew, and reveals his “dad”, Baxter Stockman, is the one who dumped the ooze in the sewer. Mondo Gecko hugs the Turtles. “I’m a hugger,” he says. They go on about liking each other’s vibe.
In another clip, we see the Turtles are very much not down with Superfly’s plan to kill all the humans.
That’s it for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem footage shown at San Diego Comic-Con. The movie comes out in cinemas August 2, 2023.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
