‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Director Jeff Rowe Signs First-Look Deal With Paramount Animation

Paramount and Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was one of 2023’s breakout hits, and the studios have already announced a sequel that will hit theaters on October 9, 2026.

This week, the film’s director, Jeff Rowe, signed a multi-year first-look development deal with Paramount Animation that covers any directing, development, producing, or executive producing on live-action and animation projects.

In addition to directing, Rowe also co-wrote Mutant Mayhem alongside Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit. The film was released in August last year and made $180.5 million globally, scoring six Annie nominations and a Critics Choice nomination for best animated feature.

Before helming the Turtles feature, Rowe was a co-writer and co-director on Sony’s Oscar-nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines and a writer for Netflix’s Disenchantment and Disney’s Gravity Falls. In 2015-2016, he also spent nine months teaching storyboarding and story structure to first-year animation students at CalArts.

Of his new Paramount agreement, Rowe said:

Working with Paramount and having the opportunity to reinvent the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle characters has been a dream come true. I’m grateful to Ramsey and the entire team for this opportunity. It’s also my understanding that this deal will pay me in money instead of pizza, and I think that’s gonna be a real game-changer.

Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation president Ramsey Naito said in a release:

Jeff has been an instrumental creative force and excellent partner in breathing new life into our iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. I am so proud of the work we’ve done together, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience the next evolution of our incredible collaboration.