Although he had spoken in the past about his plans for additional big screen entries in the franchise, it looks like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles helmer Jonathan Liebesman won’t be returning for 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Instead, Variety is reporting that the director’s chair will go to Earth to Echo helmer David Green.
The original film, released this past summer, stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub. It grossed more than $477 million at the worldwide box office and lands on DVD and Blu-ray December 16.
Earth to Echo, released this year by Relativity Media, offered a family-friendly “found footage” tale with an overall tone somewhere between E.T. and The Goonies. It grossed $45 million worldwide on a very modest $13 million budget.
Shortly before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released, ComingSoon.net spoke with Fox (who is expected to return for the sequel) about her performance as April O’Neil. As you can watch in the video player below, she reveals an Easter Egg cameo from the first film that you might have missed and teases Bebop and Rocksteady for the sequel.
Michael Bay will again produce the big screen take on the heroes-in-a-half-shell through his Platinum Dunes. The sequel is already set for release on June 3, 2016.
