Paramount teases star-studded animated lineup of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Smurfs, and more

The A.V. Club’s Matthew Schimkowitz was on the scene today at CinemaCon for Paramount’s presentation, which featured a veritable murderer’s row of an animation lineup. The event included new updates on previously announced projects like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as brand new films like a new animated Transformers film, Transformers One.

Seth Rogen was on hand to share footage from his TMNT movie, emphasizing that this version will “lean into the teenage” aspect of the characters (inspired, perhaps, by his own teenage years, in which his dad bought him a “real pair of nunchucks at a flea market” leading Rogen to crack his own head open). The teen cast captured that “insane teenage energy,” Rogen shared. “They said so many disgusting things we could not say in the movie.”

The newly announced Transformers One, premiering July 19, 2024, will be an origin story for Optimus Prime and Megatron. The film boasts a star-studded cast that includes Chris Hemsworth as young Optimus, Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron, Keegan Michael Key as Bumblebee, as well as Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm, and Laurence Fishburne.

Another exciting announcement was the reveal of a new Smurfs movie, debuting February 14, 2025. Lego Movie director Chris Miller is at the helm with Pam Brady writing a script that answers the age-old question, “What is a Smurf anyway?” Most significantly, Rihanna took the stage with a bombshell: “I don’t know if you heard but I’ll be playing Smurfette,” she shared with the crowd. “I tried to get Papa Smurf but it didn’t work out. Getting to do animation is a fun journey for me. I’m usually at the front and center of everything with my likeness. With this, I get to just imagine. I get to show up in my pajamas in my third trimester and play a little blue badass. I hope this gets some cool points with my kids.”

Paramount’s animated roster also includes films for some other classic IP, like Avatar: The Last Airbender (the first film of which will be directed by Lauren Montgomery) and Spongebob Squarepants (a new movie, Search For Squarepants, will follow the characters to the “deepest depths of the ocean” to face off with the Flying Dutchman). Paramount also teased Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, which sees the titular pups becoming superheroes. It premieres September 29, 2023, with a cast that includes Kristen Bell, Taraji P. Henson, Chris Rock, and Kim Kardashian and her kids North and Saint West.