Paramount has decided to reschedule its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot to August 2014, likely in an effort to avoid the glut of family films opening earlier that summer.
TMNT’s release had already been moved from May 16, 2014 to June 6, 2014 back in February, but Paramount must have taken a second look at all the family movies coming out that June and reconsidered. According to Deadline, the new date is Aug. 8, 2014.
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, there are several other family films scheduled for June. Considering how the glut of family movies this year torpedoed the chances for Turbo and Smurfs 2 to become hits, Paramount probably wanted to avoid that happening to TMNT.
Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur opens on May 30, 2014, while How To Train Your Dragon 2 is out on June 20. While TMNT is more action-oriented, it is a CGI/live-action hybrid and the franchise is popular with children.
On top of this, Paramount does have Transformers 4 scheduled for June 27, so moving the two potential blockbusters farther apart is seen as a good idea for the studio. (Transformers 4 will likely move up to June 25, since all Transformers movies have opened on Wednesdays.)
Also, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy does open on Aug. 1, so TMNT will have to face that head on.
Jonathan Liebesman is directing TMNT.
image: Amazon