Is this What the New Live-Action TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Will Look Like?

In October of last year it was officially announced that Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films took complete control of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise and they are looking to develop into a feature film to be released in 2012. There’s been a lot of talk about the new film being a live-action movie, not CGI like the last TMNT film to be released, which is pretty awesome.

Our friends over at Latino Review were sent a photo of what might actually be the new design for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. I’m a big fan of the Ninja Turtles and I hoped that this new film would get a new gritty look. I hope that the image below is actually real because I dig the design and the details.

Last year Peter Laird described what the film would end up being like, and what it would take to make it.

I can say that at this point there are a lot of positive feelings about a 'Batman Begins'-style 'reboot,' which would, of necessity, include a retelling of the Turtles' origin story. Having said that, I would also be into an all-new story, if it was decided that that was a more desirable direction. Either way is fine with me, to be honest!

The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits. To add expressiveness to the Turtles’ faces which would be difficult if not impossible to get with animatronics and/or puppetry, there would be ‘face replacement,’ with CGI Turtle faces superimposed on the live action performers’ heads.

If the actors are not going to use masks with animatronics then this must be one of the masks that the actors will wear on set for reference purposes. There is absolutely no confirmation that the photo above is actually part of the film production, but I still think it's cool.

What do you all think about the possible new TMNT design?