Paramount's 'Ninja Turtles' reboot delayed until 2014 (maybe)

In a rush to secure release dates to prevent rival studios from getting a foothold, the big tent-pole films have felt the effect of those too soon locked-in release dates; scripts that are barley finished, with some filming on second or third drafts. And since they’re clinched in so early, the preproduction time has also become compressed, which then force’s the production crew to compromise their visions, from the director on down to cast and crew. One of the reasons Gary Ross backed out of The Hunger Games sequel was due to that exact reason; there was –from his point-of-view- not enough time to get all the preproduction stuff, the including its script, finished before filming commences in August for November 2013 release.

And these days, no one knows the problems that can happen when you rush films to meet those deadlines than Paramount Pictures. Burned by the failures of both G.I. Joe: Retribution -pulled 5 weeks before release and delayed 9 months for 3D conversion and to resurrect Channing Tatum’s character- and World War Z –pushed from this December to next May, a ballooning budget and a month or more of re-shoots- has lead Paramount to halt all work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, now called just Ninja Turtles,  that only two people on the planet really wanted, creator Kevin Eastman and Master of the Universal Craptacular Schlock™, Michael Bay. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio shut down and laid-off all preproduction staff “indefinitely” due to what is being described as “script issues.” The film was scheduled for Christmas Day 2013, but now Paramount is saying May 16, 2014 at the earliest. Insiders are saying the film has only been delayed 10 weeks, but since production has yet to begin, and with such a far off release date, Paramount may end up scrapping the project altogether and restart at some other time.