Paramount locks in 2028 releases for new Sonic and TMNT movies

Paramount just planted two new finish-line flags on its calendar: an untitled live-action/CG-animation hybrid “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” on Nov. 17, 2028, and an untitled “Sonic Universe Event Film” on Dec. 22, 2028 — two family tentpoles arriving back-to-back as the studio tries to keep momentum on franchises that have proven they still move crowds.

The studio is keeping plot, cast and creative teams under wraps for both projects, which is part of the point — Paramount is selling dates and faith in IP more than story at this stage. The single production name that has leaked through the fog is Neal H. Moritz, the producer who helped shepherd the Sonic trilogy; he’s attached to the new TMNT project, a sign that the studio wants someone who knows how to turn kid-friendly characters into reliably bankable blockbusters.

That TMNT entry is being described as a “Sonic-fied” family-friendly hybrid — think real-world actors and environments with CG turtles that feel tuned for kids and mainstream audiences rather than the dark, R-rated “Last Ronin” material that once had fans salivating. It will be the first live-action Turtles film since 2016’s bumpy Out of the Shadows and it arrives a year after the animated sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2, currently set for Sept. 17, 2027. The play is obvious: keep the animated side humming with Nickelodeon/Point Grey projects while relaunching a live-action strand that can sell toys, theater seats, and that amiable nostalgia to parents.

On the Sonic front, the untitled December 2028 picture is billed as a “Sonic Universe Event Film” — explicitly separate from the already announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which is slated for March 19, 2027. Paramount’s calculus is simple: Sonic is a rare, modern video-game adaptation that has commercial legs — the trilogy has now pushed past the billion-dollar mark worldwide — so the studio is treating Sonic less like a one-off and more like a universe where sequels and spin-offs can be stacked in different windows. Expect the 2028 entry to be positioned as counter-programming for holiday audiences and to lean into secondary characters or corners of the franchise (rumors about Shadow or other fan favorites have already started to circulate).

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A small footnote to the calendar shuffle: Paramount also plans to give Tony Scott’s Top Gun a theatrical 40th-anniversary reissue on May 13, 2026 — a reminder that studios still view legacy titles as reliable anchors for periodic box-office boosts. That reissue sits oddly but intentionally near a slate that’s increasingly about milking existing brands for both nostalgia and new family audiences.

What’s the bigger picture? The move feels like a studio leaning into what it knows works: familiar characters, holiday and autumn release windows for family fare, and cross-platform marketing that reaches toys, streaming, and theatrical audiences. Paramount — which has been reorganizing its own priorities in the wake of leadership changes and the Skydance tie-ups — is effectively prioritizing established IP as a low-risk growth engine. Attaching a proven franchise hand like Neal Moritz to both Sonic-adjacent and TMNT projects is a play for consistency and scale: one producer who has already shown he can shepherd kid-friendly tentpoles across sequels.

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There are obvious tradeoffs. Fans who wanted a grittier, adult-leaning TMNT film (the Last Ronin adaptation) may be disappointed; darker, R-rated takes often spoil the family licensing model. Crowding two recognizable, merchandise-friendly franchises into back-to-back holiday windows also raises cannibalization questions: can December families really give both a full box-office run in the same season, or will one eat the other’s fries? Studios have answers — international rollouts, streaming windows, and merchandising timing can blunt overlap — but the risk is real.

For now, the announcements are mostly calendar poetry: dates are commitments to build around, not promises of scripts, directors, or cast. The next 12–18 months should reveal how Paramount intends to staff these pictures and whether the Sonic “universe” idea will be a genuine shared world or a loose banner for solo character adventures. If you like watching IP strategies unfold, keep an eye on casting notices, toy deals, and which characters show up in promotional tie-ins — that’s where a studio’s real intentions usually leak first.