Jeff Rowe Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Karen Idelson Reboots and remakes tread dangerous territory. Make it too much like what’s already been seen and audiences will wonder why it was made at all. Turn the wheels of something completely unexpected and you might run the whole thing off the road.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Paramount Animation has entered an exclusive, multi-year first-look development deal with writer, director and producer Jeff Rowe.  The pact extends the relationship between the studio and the filmmaker following the success of last summer’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which Rowe directed and co-wrote. The agreement covers Rowe’s development and directing services, as well as his producing and executive producing work, on both animated and live-action projects.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has been confirmed for 2026.The action-animated adventure from director Jeff Rowe and writer-producers Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg was a critical success on its release last year and now a sequel has been green-lit.According to a new Paramount release slate, the follow-up to Mutant Mayhem will arrive on October 9 2026.Director Rowe is expected to return alongside the actors who played the turtles (Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon) and April O’Neal (Ayo Edebiri).At the end of the first film, a return was also teased with the appearance of villain Shredder.Speaking to Empire last year, Rowe explained the villain must prove more menacing than Superfly – the villain from the last film.“The one thing I can say without spoiling anything is, [Shredder] needs to be 100 times scarier than Superfly – who is a credible villain, he’s dangerous, he’s strong, he seems like he could mess the Turtles up,” he explained.“Shredder needs to be that, just significantly more. It’ll be really interesting to see these fun-loving characters go up against something that maybe they can’t stop.”In other news, the soundtrack to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem proved a hit with viewers last year.It featured a wide collection of East Coast hip-hop songs, including hits from Vanilla Ice, DMX, A Tribe Called Quest, and many more.

It’s Paramount earnings day, so it’s a great time to release a ton of news as the stick upticks 0.6% to $11.32.

Katcy Stephan A long-gestating reboot of the “Naked Gun” franchise with Liam Neeson is finally moving forward at Paramount, landing a release date of July 15, 2025. The currently-untitled project will be directed and executive produced by Avika Schaffer, who co-wrote the draft script alongside Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing via their company Fuzzy Door.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around since the ‘80s. They’ve starred in several animated TV series, live-action movies from Jim Henson costumes to CGI turtles, and two animated films. The latest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, reinvents the comic book heroes in several ways.

Imagine the pressure of tackling yet another new incarnation of a property that has been rebooted and reimagined at least three times over the past 20 years. When it comes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that was a challenge director Jeff Rowe was more than down for.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem writers Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jeff Rowe said it was important that their turtles spoke like real teenagers. That meant brushing up on the latest crazes, like TikTok.

As a lifelong fan of the Ninja Turtles franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem writer-director Jeff Rowe knew that this film would be a gateway for a new generation of people. Along with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Rowe crafted a new look and story to connect with a new audience who may have never heard of the Ninja Turtles before.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Animated feature directors of “Elemental,” “Nimona,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Trolls Band Together” will attend the second annual “Sketch to Screen: Top Animated Contenders” panel at SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Hosted by Clayton Davis, senior awards editor for Variety, the panel will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Paramount+ has set September 19 for the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The film will be available to stream on the service beginning Tuesday, September 19, in the U.S. and Canada. The film’s availability in additional international Paramount+ markets will be announced at a later date.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Cowabunga! As the seventh installment in the film series, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” — which was produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — reignited the franchise for a new generation of fans when it theaters in July.

The animators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem were taken care of by not being overworked. Director Jeff Rowe and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg made sure the staff could work on the animated movie while continuing to maintain a good work-life balance.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A Vulture report published in June claimed that animators on Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” were extremely overworked during production. The report followed similar claims made by several visual effects workers about the brutal working conditions at Marvel Studios. For Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” it appears director Jeff Rowe wanted to buck this problematic trend.

While “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is one of the most acclaimed films of the year, seemingly on track to land a second Best Animated Feature Oscar for the franchise, the film did have a bit of controversy after its release. You see, there were reports from folks who worked on the film that said the filmmakers involved treated animators poorly and overworked them.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Margot Robbie-led flick is expected to hit the billion-dollar mark globally before Monday, which would make its director Greta Gerwig the first solo female director to achieve that goal, CNBC reported.“Meg 2: The Trench,” the sequel to the 2018 original, landed in second, with $12 million in sales.The sci-fi action flick starring Jason Statham, which the Hollywood Reporter said brings “his rugged charm and tough-guy self-irony to sparkling dialogue,” is based on a 1999 novel.In third place was “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” which was released on Wednesday and took home $9.3 million on Friday.The Post called the reboot the Turtles “finest hour,” and said its directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears “bet big on the title and shrewdly explore what it would be like to live as a hormonal, teenage, mutant, ninja turtle.”“Oppenheimer,” which was in second place last Friday, slipped to fourth, with an $8.3 million take. The Christopher Nolan biopic has already earned $500 million globally and is expected to hit over $551 million through Sunday, according to Deadline.Disney’s “Haunted Mansion,” which was in the No.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Rose Byrne jumped at the chance to voice Leatherhead in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” when producer-star Seth Rogen asked her to join the film. “It was ridiculous,” the “Physical” actor tells me. “Seth was like, ‘I want you to do just fully Aussie — just go for it!’ “I was like, ‘I’m going to do my best Eric Bana.’ This is an homage to Eric,” Byrne continues.

The spoils of July are spilling over into August as Warner Bros.’ Barbie after a $11.8M Thursday, jetted across the four-century mark at the domestic box office in her 14th day –faster than Top Gun: Maverick and Super Mario Bros Movie– with a running total of $406.4M at 4,337 locations.

Marvel Cinematic Universe limps along and DC attempts a second act, the best superhero movies are actually coming from the world of animation.Sony’s innovative “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” and superb sequel “Across The Spider-Verse” served the tired genre a much-needed double shot of espresso. And now, far more unexpectedly, Paramount’s awesome “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” has tossed it a rallying Red Bull — alongside, naturally, a slice of pepperoni.Running time: 99 minutes.

Looking to find its way and pull boys in, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is getting a mid-week start here with previews yesterday grossing $3.85M. Showtimes started at 2PM for the Jeff Rowe-directed feature and the outlook is $30M over 5-days for the net $70M production. Some trackers have it at $40M. Mutant Mayheim is booked at 3,513 locations today and will expand to 3,851 theaters by Friday.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic It started as a joke. Way back in the ’80s, the phenomenon we now call “superhero fatigue” was already a thing, at least among comics afficionados. Frustrated with pulp creators recycling the same old ideas, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird hatched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In a summer where the off-the-boards success of original movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer is all the rage, the 7th-or so feature film iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise wasn’t one with great expectations – except when you read the credit block and discover the cowriters and producers are none other than Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and the director is Jeff Rowe who most recently was an Oscar nominee for the wildly inventive animated hit, The Mitchells Vs The Machines.

Critics loathed the last movie iterations of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise from 2014 and 2016, respectively: a live-action revamp seven years after the previous 2007 animated film. Now after another seven years, Paramount reboots “TMNT” by going back to animation with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Nurtles: Mutant Mayhem,” in theaters next month.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies are developing a sequel to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and planning a two-season series that will serve as a “bridge” between the films. The spinoff series will appear on Paramount+.

Seth Rogen knew what kind of music he wanted to include on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”.

are back to being animated in the latest feature film,, with Ice Cube as one of the many A-list stars lending his voice to the cast. While speaking to ET's Will Marfuggi about the upcoming theatrical release, the 54-year-old performer opens up about his friendship with co-writer, co-director and co-executive producer Seth Rogen and shares an update on the status of the long-awaited sequels in the and film franchises. In the latest installment in the movie franchise, Cube voices the villain, Superfly, a mutant fly who wants all mutants to have dominance over humans. And for the performer, it was exactly the kind of character he likes to play. «You want to do characters that make an impact,» he says.

Angelique Jackson Cowabunga! The original 1987 animated series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is coming to Nickelodeon. Ahead of the theatrical release of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” Nickelodeon has acquired global rights to the storied Fred Wolf series, which follows the adventures of the heroes in a half-shell — Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. Under the deal, all 193 episodes of the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” — which ran from 1987 to 1996 — are set to debut digitally on Nickelodeon-owned and operated channels (such as YouTube, Pluto TV and O&O linear channels) later this month in the U.S., followed by Nickelodeon-branded channels and digital platforms internationally.

Breaking out of Hall H here in Comic-Con: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman says Paramount and Nick have secured rights to air the original cartoon series from the 1980s.

Karen Idelson We’ve never been really far away from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Since they first arrived as comic book characters in the early 1980s, there has been a steady supply of comics, TV shows, games and films that celebrate the canon of Cowabunga. And TMNT fandom, once experienced, can almost never be forgotten. Is it the masks? The pizza? The ooze that made them who they are? It’s nearly impossible to single one thing out.  When lifelong Turtle enthusiasts Seth Rogen, Jeff Rowe and Evan Goldberg started working on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which arrives in theaters this August, they knew they wanted to update the characters for a new generation while also telling a relevant story. They were also interested in using a CG animation style that looked less than perfect and would remind audiences of their own doodles they might have done in a notebook while listening to a boring class lecture in high school.

Marta Balaga Studios shouldn’t rely just on IP-based content to make artistically bold choices, said director Jeff Rowe at Annecy. “Right now, things like ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Sperverse’ are this Trojan horse – they are taking a well-known IP and using that to break artistic boundaries and move the medium forward. My hope is that the studios will take these kinds of risks also with original ideas.” Rowe, now behind “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” spoke out at Variety’s “Breaking the Borders of Animation” panel, moderated by its chief film critic Peter Debruge. 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” doesn’t hit theaters until August, but the film made a splash on Monday at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival where it debuted to a rousing reception complete with a six-minute standing ovation. The crowd’s applause was so strong, in fact, that director Jeff Rowe was dragged back onstage to take it all in.“Being in the room and feeling all the reactions and hearing all the laughter was amazing, but what really stood out to me was to see our movie received and appreciated in that way by a lot of people who really love and care about animation,” Rowe told TheWrap in a statement.The cut screened at Annecy had just a few scenes of rough animation but was otherwise complete (including a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).

EXCLUSIVE: Ramsey Naito, President, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, has a big remit, overseeing all of the groups’ operations from development through release. The respected veteran also has big hopes for an upcoming slate of franchise installments as well as original features. 

Marta Balaga Variety will host a panel at the Annecy Animation Festival, Breaking the Borders of Animation, focusing on one of the key – and most exciting –  talking points in the medium: How animation is currently being revolutionized and reimagined by new waves of creativity and technology. The panel has been organised with Nickelodeon as its official partner.  On Tuesday June13, Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge will encourage his guests to wonder about the future of the art form, starting with Latifa Ouaou, EVP of Paramount and Nickelodeon Animation, who also executive produced “The Grinch” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”

Ever since 1990, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” have had a footprint on the big screen. While a new live-action film is years away, producer/co-writer Seth Rogen (“The Boys“) is behind a brand new take on the ‘Ninja Turtles’ franchise with the upcoming animated movie, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” As the quirky new animated pic releases this summer, Paramount has released a brand new trailer.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” marking their second animated feature after scoring Pixar’s 2020 film “Soul.”The animated reboot is produced and co-written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen called Reznor and Ross’ score “incredible” while adding that the process of working with the duo has been “thrilling.”Directed by Jeff Rowe, an animation veteran who worked on the acclaimed series “Gravity Falls” before co-directing the Netflix feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” this new “TMNT” movie aims to position the titular turtles as real-life teenagers, drawing inspiration from coming-of-age films.