‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Filmmaker Jeff Rowe Enters First-Look Deal With Paramount Animation (EXCLUSIVE)

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Sleeping Dogs,” starring Russell Crowe as a retired cop with Alzheimer’s disease, is a half-rusted scrap heap of a detective mystery. It’s patchy, it’s badly lit, it’s glum, it’s overloaded with suspects, and it’s almost proud of its contrivances. Yet in its logy, booby-trapped way, it keeps you watching.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Filmmaker duo Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero have signed with CAA. Valadez and Rondero co-directed and co-wrote “Sujo,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize for World Dramatic competition. The film currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Katcy Stephan Actor and comedian Zach Woods has signed with the Gersh Agency for representation in all areas. Woods is best known for his work on critically acclaimed series “Silicon Valley” and “The Office.” He played Donald “Jared” Dunn for six seasons on “Silicon Valley” and joined “The Office” as Gabe Lewis starting in Season 6.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Bill Hader or, at least, an animated character that he voices, will don a red-and-white striped top hat in a new adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat.” The “Barry” star will lead a vocal ensemble that also includes Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Bowen Yang (“SNL”), Xochitl Gomez (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”), Matt Berry (“What We Do in The Shadows”) and Paula Pell (“Girls5eva”). Warner Bros.

Soo Hugh is staying in business with Apple and Media Res after striking an overall deal with the two companies.

EXCLUSIVE: Celebrating his 50th year as an indie filmmaker and distributor, Jeff Lipsky is prepping the release of his eighth feature as director. Goldilocks and the Two Bears is due to open domestically via Glass Half Full Media in July for a limited theatrical run, followed by a general release in late summer/early fall. Check out an exclusive clip above.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ is staying in business with one of the men behind its latest sports docuseries The Dynasty: New England Patriots.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Illumination and Nintendo will join forces to produce a new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. The companies previously partnered on last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed more than $1.3 billion and became the second highest-grossing movie of 2023.

Wondery and Campside Media, the company behind the successful Chameleon franchise, are expanding their relationship with an exclusive audio first-look deal for a multi-project slate. Under the pact, Wondery and Campside will produce Limited Series podcasts, including non-English language titles, to be distributed by Wondery globally, with the first being a German-language series currently in production.

Rachel Weisz and Polly Stokes are taking their slate to Fremantle.

EXCLUSIVE: Online content creator Parker James is going from social media stardom to the book store shelves.

Expanding their canvas with their John Wick filmmaker even further, Lionsgate has signed a second production deal with Chad Stahelski that will see the filmmaker and his 87Eleven Entertainment label producing original action fare for the studio. It’s a multi-year first look.

A+E Networks has signed a development deal with Reese Witherspoon‘s Hello Sunshine for lifestyle series which will air as part of A+E’s Home.Made.Nation multi-platform content hub. The first series from the partnership will be Country House Hunters, a co-production between Hello Sunshine and Abode Entertainment, which will premiere in the summer of 2024 on A&E.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnolia Pictures and Participant have partnered to jointly acquire North American rights to “The Grab,” a new documentary from “Blackfish” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows journalists from The Center for Investigative Reporting as they work high-profile sources and utilize a cache of secret data to uncover the money and influence being used by countries, corporations and members of the uber-elite to control the planet’s most vital resources.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Sean Cercone has stepped down as head of Broadway Licensing Global. It’s unclear why he left the company that he acquired in 2019. Broadway Licensing Global has announced who will lead the company on an interim basis: Ted Chapin will serve as interim CEO and Dan Markley will be interim COO.

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.

Air fryers have become a hot commodity in recent years, even replacing traditional ovens in some people's kitchens. There are many types and sizes of air fryers but many agree that Ninja is one of the most trusted brands, and has become a household name for its energy and time saving air fryers and multicookers.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate Television is reducing the number of its development deals by more than half, sources tell Deadline. The move comes on the heels of Lionsgate’s acquisition of indie TV studio eOne from Harbro, which was completed at the end of December. It follows a two-month review of the combined talent roster of Lionsgate Television and eOne, which I hear included nearly 60 overall and first-look deals. More than 50% of them — across both eOne and Lionsgate TV — have now been cut. A rep for Lionsgate declined comment.

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.