How To Watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem At Home
Almost 40 years after their creation (and nearly as long since the last time a real-life teenager declared "Cowabunga!" without a trace of irony), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have gained a whole new lease on life thanks to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem." The critically acclaimed animated film (you can read Rafael Motamayor's own glowing review for /Film here) follows in the footsteps of hits like "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" by eschewing visual realism in favor of creating its own uniquely hyperrealistic style. It also helps that "Mutant Mayhem" fully embraces the "Teenage" component of the franchise by casting actual teenagers to voice its heroes in a half-shell and allowing them to play off each other in real-time by recording their lines together.
Despite significant competition from the likes of Barbenheimer and "Meg 2: The Trench," "Mutant Mayhem" has managed to pass the $100 million mark at the domestic box office since its theatrical debut at the start of August. Of course, with the "youths" having gone back to school and older audiences settling in for the fall awards season, the film is already starting to slow down Stateside. Luckily, thanks to its shockingly modest $70 million budget, "Mutant Mayhem" should have little trouble covering its expenses and then some as it rolls out into a number of lucrative markets in the weeks to come. Meanwhile, the film will gain a second boost of Turtle Power in the U.S. starting tomorrow, September 1, 2023, when it becomes available to buy or rent on Digital (with its Blu-ray/DVD release and streaming debut on Paramount+ to follow at later dates). Read on for all the details!
Mutant Mayhem ninja-kicks its way onto PVOD
If you missed out on one of 2023's most exuberant and stylistically audacious animated films (which, in a year that's also seen the release of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," is really saying something), then fear not! You can amend that by catching "Mutant Mayhem" on PVOD platforms like Vudu and Apple TV beginning Friday, September 1, 2023. Not only that, those who buy the film on Digital will get 40 minutes of additional material, including the following special features:
- TEENage Mutant Ninja Turtles — For the first time the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are voiced by actual teenagers! Hear how each Turtle was cast and how having all four boys record together helped create the authentic camaraderie seen on screen.
- The Mutant Uprising — Get to know the Turtles' mutant antagonists, led by the wild and original character Superfly, voiced by Ice Cube.
- New York, New York: The Visual World of MUTANT MAYHEM — Take a deep dive into the breakthrough visual style of the film's characters and environments and how they evolved over time.
- Learn to Draw Leo — Try your hand at drawing the Turtle leader with this fun tutorial!
Mutant Mayhem coming to 4K UHD, Blu-ray & DVD in December
If you haven't yet bought "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" on digital, you can grab it on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD just in time for the holidays. The movie hits physical media starting on December 12, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment. There's also a SteelBook release on 4K UHD that will be available for purchase. All of the special features included in the digital version (listed above) will be available on the physical release as well.
Directed by Jeff Rowe, "Mutant Mayhem" was co-written by Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen, Rowe, and Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit. The film's all-star voice cast includes Rogen, Ayo Edebiri, John Cena, Maya Rudolph, Ice Cube, Jackie Chan, Giancarlo Esposito, Natasia Demetriou, Rose Byrne, and many more, with Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., Micah Abbey, and Brady Noon voicing the Turtles themselves. Paramount, suffice it to say, isn't taking the film's success lightly, having already gotten to work on both a sequel film and a spinoff series.
Who knows: those rascally Turtles might just bring "Cowabunga!" back into the popular lexicon all on their own.
After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O'Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.