As Michelangelo would say, “Cowabunga!” Our favorite crime fighting turtle siblings are coming back to the big screen.
Fathom Entertainment, Saga Arts and Warner Bros. Pictures will re-release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in theaters nationwide for a one-week, 35th anniversary engagement running Friday, March 13–Thursday, March 19 extended in select cities through Thursday, March 26, 2026.
The 1991 sequel will be presented theatrically for the first time in a newly restored 4K format, offering longtime fans and new audiences a chance to revisit the fan-favorite film with enhanced picture quality and scale.
The announcement follows the breakout success of last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 35th anniversary theatrical event. Originally planned as a two-day engagement, that re-release expanded to a four-week run, cracked the domestic box office Top 10 and grossed nearly $3.7 million.
In addition to the feature presentation, the March anniversary engagement will include exclusive bonus content. A never-before-seen featurette titled The Ninja Turtles: Revolutions will screen before the film, featuring TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman. The piece offers fans a personal look at Eastman’s creative process as he reflects on the evolution, mythology and enduring legacy of the Ninja Turtles from his own drawing desk.
The theatrical return is part of a renewed wave of Turtlemania, bringing the franchise back to cinemas for families, longtime fans and a new generation discovering the heroes in a half shell on the big screen.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze will play exclusively in theaters from Friday, March 13 through Thursday, March 19, with showtimes varying by location. For more information, visit https://www.fathomentertainment.com
Watch the announcement below.
The news was first reported by Variety.
From UPI:
Vanilla Ice says Ninja Turtles fans still discover 'Ice Ice Baby'
LOS ANGELES, March 9 (UPI) -- When Vanilla Ice was cast in 1991's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, returning to theaters March 13 - 19 via Fathom Entertainment, it was because of his hit song "Ice Ice Baby."
In 2026, he says young fans still discover his 1990 hit because they saw him in the Ninja Turtles film. When the Turtles fight other monsters in a dance club, Vanilla Ice freestyles "Ninja Rap" on the stage.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Vanilla Ice, real name Rob Van Winkle, 58, said "Ninja Rap" outlasted "Ice Ice Baby."
"They're like, 'Well, I started off with the Ninja Turtles and then I heard he did other songs,'" he said.
He did indeed do other songs and released six albums including one live concert recording. Now, Van Winkle discovers YouTube videos of young fans listening to his 1990 hit.
"They do these reaction videos where they're listening to it for the first time on YouTube," he said. "They're already in their 30s and never heard 'Ice Ice Baby.'"
Making 'The Secret of the Ooze'
The film posits that Vanilla Ice can make up a rap about human-sized, fighting turtles on the spot. In real life, Van Winkle did not need much more time to write "Ninja Rap."
"I did it in one night, actually the night before that in my hotel room," he said. "I was so excited, I couldn't sleep."
In a mild spoiler alert for the 1991 movie, the Turtles win their fight. Then they dance with Vanilla Ice.
"I came up with all those dance routines," he said. "I had to teach them how to do it and then the challenge was to teach them how to do it with the suits on."
In the 1990 and 1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, performers wore Turtle costumes with animatronic heads designed by the Henson's Creature Shop.
Van Winkle filmed Ooze during a break from his 1990 tour. During production, EMI Records CEO Charles Koppelman had bikini-clad models present him with his gold, platinum, double and triple platinum album plaques.
"They go, 'Actually, today you sold another 3 million. We just do''t have the plaque printed up,'" he said. "It's at 675 million worldwide now. At that time, I didn't know I'd sold ten records."
A lifelong Ninja Turtles collector, Van Winkle showed off collector's items in his house, including a surfboard. He has never used it.
"Never would I ever scratch the bottom of that," he said. "It's just art all day long."
In another room, Van Winkle said, he still has his set chair from The Secret of the Ooze, but is afraid to let anyone sit in it lest it collapse. He has passed his Turtle love onto his four daughters, the youngest of whom is 7.
"We walk by any sewer hole where the cap is in the street, we automatically stop and say what's up to the turtles down there," he said. "I missed one. My 7-year-old goes, 'You missed it. The Turtles.' I had to go back and say what's up to 'em."
The '90s were the best decade, Vanilla Ice says so
1991 was the heyday of Vanilla Ice and he looks back fondly at the entire decade. He has persevered, appearing in Adam Sandler movies and hosting his own construction series, The Vanilla Ice Project.
Van Winkle said he has only realized in retrospect how good he, and society, had it in the '90s.
"There's no suit and tie person that says, 'Hey, this generation's going to stop on this day and there's going to be a new one on this day,'" he said. "There's no committee. It does it on its own."
Van Winkle lamented generations of kids who stay inside playing Fortnite now. He cited VHS, cassette decks, Blockbuster Video and even Beavis and Butt-Head, who mocked his videos, as treasures of the '90s.
"It was the last of the great decades ever," he declared.
When he's not building houses or raising his daughters, Van Winkle gets to relive the '90s in the I Love the '90s: The Party Continues tour, extended from his initial eight-month booking in 2017.
Van Winkle brings out a costumed turtle when he performs "Ninja Rap" and marvels at "big old bearded guys" chanting and dancing along.
"We get the soccer moms that come in," he said. "People come out dressed like Ninja Turtles."
Bringing '90s joy back to fans of all ages is what Vanilla Ice is all about.
"Smiles are contagious," he said. "That's how I wake up every day, man. My purpose, my meaning, my drive, my ambition is everything about happiness."
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