EXCLUSIVE: Fathom Entertainment‘s 35th anniversary rerelease of New Line’s 1990 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cleared a good first week of $3.3 million, and exhibitors have asked, and will now receive, a second week of play of the costumed character pic.
But there’s more: Given the excitement over the first movie based on the Eastman & Laird 1980s comic book, Fathom, Saga Arts and Warner Bros are now planning to rerelease the 1991 sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in March 2026.
The original Steve Barron-directed film when released screamed to the world that, by God, there’s a mega franchise in these turtles. Paramount has since absorbed the franchise and was behind a two-pic Michael Bay-directed live-action reboot as well as the 2023 animated movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which pushed $1 billion in global retail merchandise sales for that calendar year. The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie opened to $25.3M and now counts a running domestic total of $138.6M. The 35th anniversary rerelease played in around 1,300 theaters this past week.
The Secret of the Ooze opened to $20M in 1991 and and finaled at $78.6M domestic. A third film that petered out the initial run of the franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, debuted in 1993 to $12.4M and ended its run at $42.2M.
All in between both the Warner Bros and Paramount releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, the green guys have grossed $1.3 billion worldwide from seven movies.
”The devoted fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise have shown up in droves with so much passion and enthusiasm in celebration of the iconic film’s 35th anniversary, Fathom Entertainment is thrilled to extend its theatrical run for a third time and add an additional full week in select theatres until August 28. Even better, we have confirmed with our partners that Fathom is bringing back the 1991 sequel to the big screen in March 2026,” Fathom CEO Ray Nutt said. “With $3.3M in box office revenues for the opening week of its theatrical return engagement, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 35th Anniversary is currently the highest-grossing 2025 classic/repertory film for Fathom Entertainment.”