Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in film

The first film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, closely follows the storyline from the Mirage comic books, in addition to some of the more lighthearted elements of the cartoons. The film tells the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, their initial encounters with April O'Neil (Judith Hoag) and Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) and their first confrontation with The Shredder and his Foot Clan. Directed by Steve Barron and released by New Line Cinema, the film showcases the innovative puppetry techniques of Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

A sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, expands on the Turtles' origin story. The film was dedicated to puppeteer Jim Henson. It also introduced the Turtles' human friend Keno (Ernie Reyes Jr.) and Shredder's mutant henchmen Tokka and Rahzar. This film was internationally released by 20th Century Fox.

A sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, features Elias Koteas reprising his role as Casey Jones. The plot revolves around the "Sacred Sands of Time", a mystical scepter which transports the Turtles and April back in time to feudal Japan, where they become embroiled in a conflict between a daimyō and a group of rebellious villagers.

A new feature film, rebooting the film franchise, was originally scheduled to be released in December 2013 as part of the acquisition of the franchise by Viacom. Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company landed the rights to the new film in May 2010. The film is a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. The first film was directed by Jonathan Liebesman and stars Megan Fox as April O'Neil, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and features motion capture CGI for the Turtles and Splinter, the film was released on August 8, 2014. The film became a box office success.

A sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows was directed by Dave Green. The original cast (with the exception of Johnny Knoxville) returns with Stephen Amell, Brian Tee, Tyler Perry, and Gary Anthony Williams joining as Casey Jones, Shredder, Baxter Stockman, and Bebop respectively. WWE wrestler Sheamus portrays Rocksteady.

In June 2020, it was reported that Nickelodeon Animation Studio was developing a computer-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film for Paramount Pictures. Jeff Rowe was announced as director, with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver producing through their production company, Point Grey Pictures.[1] The film stars the voices of Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon as the Turtles, alongside a supporting ensemble voice cast.[2] It was released on August 2, 2023.[3]

In July 2023, it was announced that a sequel to the film as well as a spin-off television series for Paramount+ had been greenlit. Rowe is set to return as director for the sequel, with Point Grey producing again.[4]

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the franchise, a television film titled Turtles Forever aired on TheCW4Kids on November 21, 2009. It was a crossover between the original comic, the 1987 television series, and the then-current incarnation, whilst also serving as a finale to the latter.

A television film based on the 2012 TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was developed by Nickelodeon for Nicktoons. Alternately aired in three parts as the episodes "The Wasteland Warrior, "The Impossible Desert", and "Carmageddon!",[5] executive producer Ciro Nieli stated that he intended for the film to serve as the series finale in order to prevent any alteration of the timeline that he and the rest of the crew had built.[6] The film was released on September 22, 2017. In the film, fifty years after humanity and most of mutant-kind have been wiped out by mutagen bomb Third World War, an elderly bearded Raphael scours a wasteland that was once New York City with a robot containing a copy of Donatello's consciousness, before seeking to free the city from its tyrannical overlord, Maximus Kong.

A film adaptation of the crossover comic book miniseries Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titled Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment and Nickelodeon, was released digitally on May 14 and on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 4, 2019. In the film, Batman, Batgirl and Robin forge an alliance with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to fight against the Turtles' sworn enemy, The Shredder, who has teamed up with Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins.

A film continuation of the 2018 TV series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was developed by Nickelodeon for Netflix. In the film, the Turtles, along with their new ally from the future Casey Jones, set out to stop the evil alien force, the Krang, from invading Earth. The film was released on August 5, 2022.

In June 2018, it was reported that Paramount Pictures will once again reboot the live-action series with Bay, Fuller and Form returning to produce the film and Andrew Dodge writing the script.[33][34] Fuller and Form announced while at the 24th Critics' Choice Awards that production on the reboot is set to start in 2019,[35] but in July, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman revealed that the film is still in development and believed that Paramount took the reactions to the 2014 and 2016 films "to heart", and that "its going to be a next-level type of stuff".[36] In August 2021, Colin Jost and Casey Jost were announced to be doing a rewrite of the script.[37]

In February 2022, at the ViacomCBS’ Investors Event, a number of spin-off films were announced to be in development. Each film will center around a villain in the franchise, with the projects being developed by Nickelodeon Animation for streaming exclusively released on Paramount+.[38]

Kevin Eastman was working on a fourth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film between 1995 and 1997 titled TMNT 4: The Next Mutation or TMNT 4: The Foot Walks Again. In 2012, Heritage Auctions published concept arts showing a fifth turtle named Kirby, but also featured are Fang, Shredder, Spyder, Nano Spyder, Super Shredder, Casey, Talbot, Lawson, Bugman and "Evil April". Peter Laird showed some concept art of the Turtles and Splinter on his blog.[39][40][41][42][43] The main concept behind the film would have the turtles undergo a second mutation due to the mutagen in the heroes' bloodstream beginning to change with age and giving them new abilities and new problems. Also, the film would revolve around the return of the Shredder and proceeded to rebuild the Foot empire.

In 2007 Kevin Munroe stated that he would like to direct a possible sequel to TMNT, possibly involving the return of the Shredder.[44] Munroe planned a trilogy. TMNT 2 would have loosely adapted the Turtles’ 13-part comic book saga "City At War". Michelangelo would have felt rejected and joined the Foot Clan, while the Turtles would have traveled to Japan and would have crossed paths with Karai and Shredder. TMNT 3 would have featured the Triceratons as well as the Technodrome’s arrival from Dimension X. Munroe wanted Michael Clarke Duncan to voice the Triceraton's leader, Commander Mozar.[45] In an interview, Peter Laird stated he was interested in the idea of having the next film be a live-action and CGI hybrid film, with the Turtles rendered in CGI and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chris Evans reprising their TMNT roles in live-action.[46]

In late April 2009, a new live-action film was announced to be in the works for a 2011 release. Mirage Studios was partnering with producers Scott Mednick and Galen Walker, with Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick Fierst, Eric Crown as executive producers, and 4Kids Entertainment handling the film's merchandising with Lightbox Productions, LLC. funding the project.[47] The film would have used animatronic suits whose facial expressions would be digitally enhanced in post-production.[45] It was stated that the story would focus on the Turtles origin.[48] A few months later, an open casting call was made for extras to play as members of the Foot Clan with Ernie Reyes, Jr. as an acting judge.[49] "Ninja Turtles" co-creator Peter Laird said "there were a lot of positive feelings about a Batman Begins-style reboot,[50] while producer Galen Walker said the film would be headed in a darker direction.[51] In July the same year, John Fusco was hired to be the film's writer.[52] His version was to be inspired by the original dark and gritty black and white comics that Eastman created with Peter Laird, but Paramount wasn't on board. Kevin Eastman described the script as being "too edgy for what Paramount wanted". Laird revealed the film would have been a direct sequel to the 1990 film while ignoring its earlier sequels.[53] In October, Viacom's subsidiary network Nickelodeon had purchased all of Mirage's rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property for $9.75 million, thus terminating all deals with 4Kids and Time Warner.[54][55][56]

In August 2014, Noel Fisher stated in an interview that he and the other Turtle actors had signed on for three films.[57] Megan Fox had also signed on for three films.[58] In May 2016, Tyler Perry said that if a third film was made, his character, Baxter Stockman, would probably mutate into his fly form during the movie.[59] Pete Ploszek also expressed his interests in reprising his role in a third film as Leonardo.[60] In October the same year, in light of the second film's financial failure, producer Andrew Form indicated that a third film was unlikely.[61]