Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Director Reveals Surprising Movies That Inspired New TMNT

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is looking like it could be the most successful of reboot of the TMNT franchise yet. Mutant Mayhem has made more than $50 million since opening last weekend; more importantly, the buzz within the TMNT fandom indicates that a lot of them want to see more of this new vision created by writers/producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and director Jeff Rowe. 

Naturally, when Goldberg and Rogen – the wild minds behind Superbad, Pineapple Express, Sausage Party, The Boys, Preacher, and Invincible – were announced to be making their own version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, fans were understandably skeptical. Well, we’re not sure those same fans would feel any better knowing which movies actually inspired this new take on the TMNT lore… 

The Four Movies that Inspired TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

According to Jeff Rowe, these are the four films that inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: 

Tokoyo Drifter – Rowe references Seijun Suzuki’s 1966 avant-garde film for both its stylistic uniqueness (Mutant Mayhem achieves its own unique stylistic look), as well as the themes of Yakuza life and the oddity of the relationships within the underworld organization. Mutant Mayhem’s Second Act has fun with the Turtles questioning their allegiance with Superfly and their fellow mutants – a nice departure from the usual black-and-white hero/villain storyline of most superhero flicks.

Everything Everywhere All At Once – The Daniels’ Oscar-winning multiverse action-drama inspired Jeff Rowe with its masterful editing, which earned an Oscar for editor Paul Rogers. For proof, look no further than the awesome sequence where the Ninja Turtles battle their way through the criminal underworld (to the tune of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity”), and the film cuts between all four battle sequences in one seamless TikTok-style edit of footage. 

Princess Mononoke – Hayao Miyazaki’s and Toho Animation’s 990s fantasy anime epic inspired Rowe with its courageous titular character, and its bold choice to create an animated movie that nonetheless mixed in some very adult themes when it came to both emotional weight, violence, and scares. While Mutant Mayhem is light and funny a lot of the time, its darker moments are definitely there. 

Sicario – This 2015 hard-boiled action-thriller is now a cult-classic, which helped make director Denis Villeneuve (Dune) and writer Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Spec Ops: Lioness) into two of the most acclaimed talents working in Hollywood. Jeff Rowe says the entire opening sequence of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem (featuring a TCRI strike team raiding Baxter Stockman’s lab/apartment) is a direct ode to Sicario.  

Turtles Favorite Films

Here are the four films Jeff Rowe says are the favorites of each turtle: 

• Donatello – The Neon Genesis Evangelion movie – Donny is an anime-head, so this checks
• Leonardo – Step Brothers – A comedic film about a blended family, with a bit of heart? Totally Leo.
• Michaelangelo – Kevin Hart Comedy – Mikey thinks Drake is “The GOAT” so naturally Kevin Hart probably tops his list of movie stars. 
• Raphael – Bloodsport – If you’ve seen Raph in the movie, you totally get this.