Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Chill" Until 2014

UPDATE: Paramount is putting its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot on ice. The studio put pre-production on the Nickelodeon-branded film on hold reportedly after director Jonathan Liebsman (Wrath of the Titans) and producer Michael Bay (Transformers) indicated they wouldn't be ready for an October shoot date. The project isn't cancelled, just delayed with a new, pushed-back release date of May 16, 2014. Paramount recently also pushed back the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and the Brad Pitt zombiepocalypse film World War Z.

March 21, 2012 -- Director Michael Bay is telling TMNT fans to take a chill pill regarding his plans to change the mythology of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles origin film. He wrote in a statement, "Fans need to take a breath, and chill. They have not read the script," he wrote. "Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles to help expand and give a more complex backstory. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world."

March 19, 2012 --TMNT fans are going radioactive on Michael Bay (Transformers), the director hired to helm the Nickelodeon reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bay plans to make the reboot an origin story and, in doing so, change the mythology so that the turtles aren't ACTUALLY turtles but aliens. Bay said in a press conference, "These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable."

Since the creation of TMNT, the backstory is that when Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello were actual baby turtles, they fell into a sewer contaminated with radioactive sludge. The super turtles were then trained by the rat Splinter into vigilante ninja warriors -- and eat a lot of pizza.

How do you feel about a director changing the history of a 30-year old franchise? Do you care? Does it make more sense? Is it reptilian blasphemy? Tell us on Twitter @KidsPickFlicks !

Movie poster to the right is from 2007's TMNT.

Source: EW's Popwatch