Can Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Pull A Spider-Verse At The Box Office?

The summer movie season isn't over yet, and we've got some heroes in a half-shell coming our way to try and make a splash late in the game. Paramount Pictures is gearing up to release "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" next week, giving the animated take on Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's beloved comic book creations a mid-week release to get a jump on the competition. That competition, in this case, is "Meg 2: The Trench," an R-rated shark flick seemingly going for a very different crowd. The question is, can this "TMNT" reboot do for the turtles what "Into the Spider-Verse" did for Spider-Man?

Box Office Pro currently has director Jeff Rowe's "Mutant Mayhem" taking in anywhere between $27 and $36 million over the weekend, with a take of $37 to $49 million in the cards for the five-day, Wednesday to Sunday stretch. Meanwhile, "Meg 2" is eyeing a similar $26 to $35 million take. That would put the animated film in good company, as 2018's "Into the Spider-Verse" earned $35.3 million on its opening weekend en route to a $190.2 million domestic finish. Sony's animated Marvel adaptation wound up with $384.2 million worldwide and a Best Animated Feature Oscar, all against a $90 million budget.

That film's success is almost certainly what Paramount is hoping to mirror with this reboot of the Ninja Turtles. Fortunately, reviews have been extremely strong out of the gate, with the film holding a stellar 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoesat the time of this writing (read our own glowing review of the film right here). While the budget has yet to be confirmed, a $70 to $80 million figure has been reported. As long as Paramount kept it under $100 million, they should be in okay shape.

At the very least, Paramount seems confident in the film, because they have already announced a sequel, as well as a two-season series that will air on Paramount+ to fill in the gap between the movies. Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon will reprise their roles as the turtles in the series. A big part of the pitch for the movie produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is that Donnie, Raph, Leo, and Mikey will actually be teenagers this time, befitting the name, and that should inject some new energy into the series. 

At times, this is a franchise that has been gold at the box office. The 1990 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" live-action film made more than $200 million worldwide against a $13.5 million budget. Its sequels didn't do nearly as much business, but were still relatively successful. There was also a 2007 theatrically released animated film, simply titled "TMNT," that made $96 million globally against a modest $35 million budget. Paramount is trying to rebound from the live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," which made just $245.3 million against a sizable $135 million budget. These early numbers indicate that the studio is on the right track this time around.

The film's star-studded cast also includes Hannibal Buress (Genghis Frog), Rose Byrne (Leatherhead), John Cena (Rocksteady), Seth Rogen (Bebop), Jackie Chan (Splinter), Ice Cube (Superfly), Natasia Demetriou (Wingnut), Ayo Edebiri (April O'Neil), Giancarlo Esposito (Baxter Stockman), Post Malone (Ray Fillet), Paul Rudd (Mondo Gecko), and Maya Rudolph (Cynthia Utrom).

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" hits theaters on August 2, 2023.