Jeff Rowe’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation, Mutant Mayhem, premiered at the Annecy Film Festival in France on June 12. Although the screening showcased an unfinished movie, the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that the audience stood for six minutes to give the gorgeous animation and Rowe himself a standing ovation.
From Nickelodeon and the mind of Seth Rogen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem retells the story of the Turtle brothers — Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo — as they emerge from years of hiding to win over New Yorkers and prove themselves both as heroes and average teenagers. Along the way, they meet both friends and foes, engaging in all-out mutant war.
The Turtles are voiced by Nicolas Cantu (Leo), Micah Abbey (Donnie), Brady Noon (Raph), and Shamon Brown Jr. (Mikey). As for the supporting cast, we have some famous faces joining the youngsters, including the likes of Rogen, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Ice Cube, and Giancarlo Esposito. The new April O’Neil is voiced by Ayo Edibiri, who also voiced Glory in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
All the news of the early screening made it to Twitter, where videos began emerging of lucky moviegoers in line, crowding around for the chance to see Mutant Mayhem before the rest of the world, even in its prototype stage.
From these videos, several news outlets began reporting that Mutant Mayhem received such a positive reception that Jeff Rowe initially left the theater after several minutes and was brought back again to witness the end of the standing ovation, which did indeed last six minutes in total.
Don’t believe us? Here’s a brief clip from inside the theater, where hundreds of onlookers clap in unison for Rowe’s groundbreaking animation. And although that sounds bold to say, it isn’t just us who are saying it. The internet appears to agree.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem skates into theaters on August 2, where we expect the full version of the movie to be even better… somehow.