During its CinemaCon presentation this past spring, Paramount Pictures made animation the center of its showcase, showing off a slate of seven franchise films over the next two years that kicks off today with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
Leading this colorful charge is Ramsey Naito, a veteran animation exec with past stints at Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Blue Sky and who, under Paramount CEO Brian Robbins, was appointed to be the president of both Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation.
“Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” sees Paramount join in what has become a very competitive market for theatrical animation. Disney and Pixar, once the undisputed box office kings, have hit a rough skid in the past couple of years while Universal and Sony have yielded hits like DreamWorks’ “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “The Super Mario Bros.