Michael Bay’s plans to reboot the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise have hit an apparent snag, with THR suggesting that Paramount have shelved the project indefinitely due to problems with the script.
Since that story broke, sources close to the production have asserted that the project has not collapsed altogether, but has merely been delayed by a few months.
ComingSoon.net have backed that assertion up by reporting that the film has now been given a new release date, with Paramount supposedly slating it to open on 16 May 2014. That would put it in direct competition with one of Fox’s big summer releases, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes .
Even if the latter account is accurate, it does at least suggest that more work is needed on the film’s development, with Bay’s initial claim that the turtles would be recast as alien creatures having gone down terribly with fans of the comics. When that backlash first began to spread, Bay took to his official website to instruct fans to bear with him, and trust that the franchise is in good hands.
“Fans need to take a breath, and chill,” said Bay back in March. “They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world.”
Confident words then, but we’ve a feeling today’s rumours may not help with the relaxing process…