New Writers hired for Ninja Turtles!

It looks like yesterdays leaked email of Paramounts upcoming production slate may have some validity to it after all. The report claimed that Paramount wasn't satisfied with the Ninja Turtles draft handed in by John Fusco, who was brought on board July of last year when the project was being handled by Mirage Studios. Now TOLDJA! is reporting that writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway have been hired for close to $1 million to re-write the reboot, they most recently finished a draft on the Highlander reboot for Summit and shared writing credit on the first Iron Man. The studio is apparently looking at the film as a potential "huge franchise" similar to Transformers.

Paramount is fast tracking the film and is looking for a first draft by October in order to take it to directors for a 2012 release. Michael Bays Platinum Dunes is producing along with original producers Scott Mednick, Galen Walker, and Marina Norman. I'm not overly excited about Platinum Dunes handling the project after having butchered several horror remakes and now deciding to go mainstream, but the inclusion of the original producers leaves me with a glimmer of hope this won't be complete trash.

The fast track pace for the production makes perfect sense seeing as Viacoms Nickelodeon acquired the global intellectual property rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for $60 million in partnership with sister company Paramount Pictures for the TV, film and video game franchise which the characters have spawned.

Original Ninja Turtles co-creator was quoted back in 2009 giving his thoughts on the reboot:

“The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits,” explained Peter Laird, co-creator of the original comic series, to MTV News. “To add expressiveness to the Turtles’ faces which would be difficult if not impossible to get with animatronics and/or puppetry, there would be ‘face replacement,’ with CGI Turtle faces superimposed on the live action performers’ heads.”

If 2012 wasn't awesome enough already and jam packed with blockbusters and tent-poles it only looks to get potentially even better with the addition of the new Ninja Turtles!