A friend of my daughter’s, who is a seven year old boy, will be very excited to hear that The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are making their way back to the big screen.

The fifth installment is moving forward as a live-action film focusing on the origins of the iconic crime fighters (sounds a bit like X-Men Origins and Star Trekplotlines.) A 2011 release date is projected with the sewer-dwelling heroes Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael along with their master Splinter.

Surely the announce of the fifth installment is not coincidental, Turtles’ 25th anniversary celebration kicks off today in New York with the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfilm screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.  The Empire State Building will be lit green today in “Shell-abration” of the Turtles anniversary.

Variety offered a bit of a history lesson concerning Ninja Turtles. The characters first appeared in a May 1984 comic book before spawning a lucrative line of toys, cartoons and three films released in the early 1990s. In 2003, the Turtles were reintroduced to a new generation via a TV series, the TMNT film and a revamped merchandising program.

All promises are being made to keep to the true spirit of the original comic books.  I am sure that will make all the young and old boys excited to hear as they experience the conventional wait for the movie to open at their local movie theaters in 2011.