Thaindian News

Washington, Apr 23 (ANI): Get ready to welcome the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen, for a fifth film in the series is all set to be released in 2011.

The Mirage Group, which owns the franchise, is working towards making a live-action film focusing on the origins of the iconic crime fighters.

Targeted for release in 2011, the film would mark the fifth bigscreen outing for the sewer-dwelling heroes- Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael as well as their master Splinter.

The news comes to coincide with the Turtles’ 25th anniversary celebration, which kicks off on April 23 in New York with the first ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ film showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Scott Mednick, former chief marketing officer, Legendary Pictures, is producing the new project alongside Galen Walker, who produced the 2007 computer-animated ‘TMNT’ film, the most recent instalment in the franchise.

Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick Fierst, Eric Crown and Napoleon Smith III are exec producing the film.

Lightbox Prods is producing the latest project, based on the characters created by Laird and Kevin Eastman.

“The original dozen comics created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman are some of the best source material one could hope for,” Variety quoted Mednick, as saying.

Laird, who bought out Eastman’s share of the property several years ago, said the film would remain true to the spirit of the original comic books.

Also, he said that the movie might use face replacement technology, which would allow the turtles to be much more expressive. (ANI)