So, that mostly terrible ‘Ninja Turtles’ reboot is still happening

Remember when we told you about that truly laughable “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” reboot being produced by “Transformers” director/explosion aficionado Michael Bay? You know, the one called simply “Ninja Turtles,” where the titular heroes in a half-shell were actually going to be "tough, edgy, funny, and completely loveable" extraterrestrials from another dimension and not the sewer-dwelling, pizza-snarfing rad dudes we remember them as?

After news broke about the the Bay-produced, Jonathan Liebesman-directed “Ninja Turtles” reboot last year, fans of the beloved mutant warriors made their displeasure known online. The outcry was heard on comment sections, message boards, and social networks around the world -- and this was before the turtle-lovers had even seen Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec’s jaw-droppingly wacky script for the film, which leaked in August. It wasn't clear if the leaked script was an early draft of the "Ninja Turtles" screenplay or the final shooting copy (we certainly hope not), but either way, fans -- and even just people who had grown up watching the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon -- were extremely put off by the project.

Even original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" co-creator Peter Laird weighed in after reading the leaked script, somewhat diplomatically telling MovieWeb that it was "unsatisfactory."

"It reminds me of one of the reasons I am glad to not own the property anymore... Because I don't have to tear what little hair I have left out while trying to fix junk like this," Laird said.

Nobody involved with "Ninja Turtles" has said much about the project since the summer (with good reason!). In fact the project was reportedly "halted indefinitely" by studio Paramount even before the script leaked. Many fans assumed that the negative reaction to the Appelbaum/Nemec screenplay was the final nail in the coffin for the project, but not so, if this recent tweet by Hollywood trade magazine Production Weekly is to believed.

The tweet seems to indicate that the film is very much still on and about to start shooting in New York in just a few months. Also telling is the title of the film, which adds "Teenage" and "Mutant" back into the mix. Have the producers given up on the alien angle and reverted Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello to their original toxic ooze origins? If the film is indeed set to begin shooting in April, we can expect an official update from Paramount very soon.