The CinemaCon overall was extremely mediocre with some major sparks, and on the last day of the event, Paramount brings some spice to this. Working on the nostalgia around Ninja Turtles, the studio is adding R-rated spice to it.
Talking about other big updates from the platform, Transformers One and Sonic 3 fans will definitely be happy; two major projects from the lineup got trailers during the event. But the bravest of them all was about the upcoming Ninja Turtles Film.
But, is this the right move? Especially talking about a kid-oriented franchise?
On paper, though it doesn’t seem like an intelligent move, Paramount might strike gold with these statistics. Ninja Turtles do have a very dedicated fan base, and talking about them, the percentage of kids in that fan base is very low.
See, Ninja Turtles, throughout their history, managed to create several series. Talking about their time period, the first animated series came between 1987 and 1996, and the second animated one came between 2003-2009, which is possibly the golden period of the show. Though it was continuously followed up with other shows, and you can’t discard the fact that there are new fans adding to this already massive fan base.
But there must be a realization as well; most of the viewers from the prime era of the show are already grown-up personas. So, if Paramount wanted to capitalize on the popularity of Ninja Turtles, they don’t need to make one more regular Ninja Turtles show but have to offer something different, something worth their time.
The adoration of the upcoming film will be drawn from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin comics of 2020 and follows the story of a dystopian future. Now, will it be successful enough?
The recent wave of live-action adaptation works big times, and if Paramount can play on the nostalgia factor and make something special out of it, Ninja Turtles will not only get a new direction, it will get a new revival about the mediocre period of theirs.