Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film series)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
2009 Blu-ray box set cover
Directed by	Steve Barron (1) Michael Pressman (2) Stuart Gillard (3) Kevin Munroe (TMNT) Jonathan Liebesman (2014) Dave Green (2016)
Produced by	David Chan (1–3) Kim Dawson (1–3) Simon Fields (1) Thomas K. Gray (2–TMNT) Galen Walker (TMNT–2016) Michael Bay (2014–2016) Andrew Form (2014–2016) Bradley Fuller (2014–2016) Scott Mednick (2014–2016)
Written by	Bobby Herbeck (1) Todd W. Langen (1–2) Stuart Gillard (3) Kevin Munroe (TMNT) Josh Appelbaum (2014–2016) André Nemec (2014–2016) Evan Daugherty (2014)
Starring	Elias Koteas Judith Hoag Paige Turco Mark Caso David Fraser Jim Raposa Matt Hill (1–3) Nolan North James Arnold Taylor Mikey Kelley Mitchell Whitfield Chris Evans Sarah Michelle Gellar Mako Iwamatsu Kevin Smith Patrick Stewart Zhang Ziyi (TMNT) Megan Fox Pete Ploszek Noel Fisher Jeremy Howard Alan Ritchson Danny Woodburn Whoopi Goldberg William Fichtner Will Arnett Abby Elliott K. Todd Freeman (2014)
Music by	John Du Prez (1–3) Klaus Badelt (TMNT) Brian Tyler (2014) Steve Jablonsky (2016)
Cinematography	John Fenner (1) Shelly Johnson (2) David Gurfinkel (3) Steve Lumley (TMNT) Lula Carvalho (2014–2016)
Edited by	William D. Gordean (1, 3) Sally Menke (1) James R. Symons (1, 3) Steve Mirkovich (2) John Wright (2) John Damien Ryan (TMNT) Joel Negron (2014) Glen Scantlebury (2014) Christian Wagner (2016)
Distributed by	New Line Cinema (1990–93) Warner Bros. (2007) Paramount Pictures (2014–present)
Release dates	1990–93 (original trilogy) 2007 2014–present (reboot)
Running time	365 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$218.500.000
Box office	$903,510,077

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a film series based on the comic book characters of the same name created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The first film in the series, titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was released in 1990 at the height of the franchise's popularity and was a commercial success. The success of the film garnered two direct sequels, respectively released in 1991 and 1993, and a CGI animated film in 2007 billed as TMNT building on the success of the 2003–09 TV series. The series was rebooted in a new film made by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, released on August 8, 2014. The sequel will be released on June 3, 2016.

Original trilogy

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

The first film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, closely follows the storyline from the Mirage comic books, in addition to some of the more lighthearted elements of the cartoons. The film tells the origin story of Splinter and the Turtles, their initial encounters with April O'Neil (Judith Hoag) and Casey Jones (Elias Koteas), and their first confrontation with The Shredder and his Foot Clan. Another plot point for the film is that The Foot have kidnapped Splinter, and the Turtles must rescue him from the Shredder's grasp. On a side note, it is the only TMNT film, besides the one from 2014, to swear. Directed by Steve Barron and released by New Line Cinema, the film showcases the innovative puppetry techniques of Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

The first sequel, titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, expands on the Turtles' origin story while claiming the dubious distinction as Vanilla Ice's film debut. The film was dedicated to puppeteer Jim Henson. It also introduced the Turtles' human friend Keno (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and Shredder's mutant henchmen Tokka and Rahzar.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)

The third film in the series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, features Elias Koteas reprising his role as Casey Jones. The plot revolves around the "Sacred Sands of Time", a mystical scepter which transports the Turtles back in time to feudal Japan, where they become embroiled in a conflict between a daimyo and a group of rebellious villagers.

Animated/CGI film

TMNT (2007)

A 2007 feature film, titled simply TMNT and written and directed by Kevin Munroe, was released March 23, 2007. Unlike the previous films, it used 100% computer-generated imagery, produced by Imagi Animation Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company. It was the final Ninja Turtle movie to be distributed by Time Warner due to the franchise being purchased by Viacom.

This film opens with the Turtles scattered as Leonardo is training in Central America, Donatello and Michelangelo have jobs, and Raphael spends his time as the vigilante crimefighter "Nightwatcher". Leonardo returns to New York City due to the events surrounding a series of monsters being hunted by the mysterious businessman Max Winters, but tensions begin to rise between Raphael and Leonardo over the leadership of the team. The Foot Clan also appear, with Karai leading them. While not strictly keeping to the continuity of the prior films,^[1] it did include references to the prior three films in a scene near the end of the film.

Reboot series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

A new feature film, rebooting the film franchise, was originally scheduled to be released in December 2013 as part of the acquisition of the franchise by Viacom. It was announced on May 27, 2010, that Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company had landed the rights to the new film. The film is a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.^[2] The first film was directed by Jonathan Liebesman and stars Megan Fox as April O'Neil, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and features motion capture CGI for the Turtles and Splinter, the film was released on August 8, 2014.^[3] The film became a box office success.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)

A sequel was announced for June 3, 2016 with Dave Green directing.^[4][5] The sequel was announced on August 10, 2014, two days after the first film was released. The original cast is set to return with Stephen Amell, Brian Tee, Tyler Perry, and Gary Anthony Williams joining as Casey Jones, Shredder, Baxter Stockman, and Bebop respectively.^[6][7][8] WWE wrestler Sheamus was later confirmed to portray Rocksteady.^[9]

Canceled projects

Kevin Eastman was working on a fourth Ninja Turtles film between 1995 and 1997 titled TMNT 4: The Next Mutation or TMNT 4: The Foot Walks Again. In 2012, Heritage Auctions published concept arts showing a fifth turtle named Kirby, but also featured are Fang, Shredder, Spyder, Nano Spyder, Super Shredder, Casey, Talbot, Lawson, Bugman and "Evil April". Peter Laird showed some concept art of the Turtles and Splinter on his blog.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}The main concept behind the film will have the turtles undergo a second mutation due to the mutagen in the heroes' bloodstream beginning to change with age and giving them new abilities and new problems. Also, the film would revolve around the return of the Shredder and proceeded to rebuilt the Foot empire.

Kevin Munroe has stated that he would like to direct a possible sequel to TMNT, possibly involving the return of the Shredder.^[15] Munroe planned a trilogy. TMNT 2 would have loosely adapted the Turtles’ 13-part comic book saga City At War. Michelangelo would have felt rejected and joined the Foot Clan. While the Turtles would have traveled to Japan and would have crossed paths with Karai and Shredder. TMNT 3 would have featured the Triceratons as well as the Technodrome’s arrival from Dimension X. Munroe wanted Michael Clarke Duncan to voice the Triceraton’s leader, Commander Mozar.^[16] In an interview, Peter Laird stated he was interested in the idea of having the next film be a live-action and CGI hybrid film, with the Turtles rendered in CGI and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chris Evans reprising their TMNT roles in live-action.^[17]

In late April 2009, it was announced a new live-action film would be in the works for a 2011 release. Mirage Studios was partnering with producers Scott Mednick and Galen Walker, with Peter Laird, Gary Richardson, Frederick Fierst, Eric Crown would serve as executive producers, and 4Kids Entertainment would handle the film's merchandising.^[18] The film would have used animatronic suits whose facial expressions would be digitally enhanced in post-production.^[19] It was stated that the story would focus on the Turtles origin.^[20] In July 2009, an open casting call was made for extras to play as members of the Foot Clan, with Ernie Reyes, Jr. as an acting judge.^[21] "Ninja Turtles" co-creator Peter Laird said "there are a lot of positive feelings about a 'Batman Begins'-style 'reboot,^[22] while producer Galen Walker said the film would be headed in a darker direction.^[23] In July, 2009 it was announced that John Fusco would be the films writer.^[24] His version was to be inspired by the original dark and gritty black and white comics that Eastman created with Peter Laird, but Paramount wasn't on board. Kevin Eastman described the script as being "too edgy for what Paramount wanted". Peter Laird revealed the film would have been a direct sequel to the 1990 film ignoring its sequels.^[25] However, in mid October 2009, it was announced that Viacom's subsidiary network Nickelodeon had purchased all of Mirage's rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property for $9.75 million, thus terminating all deals with 4Kids and Time Warner.^[26][27][28]

Cast and characters

Character	Original Trilogy			TMNT (2007)	Rebooted Series
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze (1991)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)		Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Leonardo	Brian Tochi (voice only) David Forman (costume only) Martin P. Robinson (puppetry only)	Brian Tochi (voice only) Mark Caso (costume only) Rob Tygner (puppetry only)	Brian Tochi (voice only) Mark Caso (costume only) Jim Martin (puppetry only)	James Arnold Taylor	Pete Ploszek (motion capture only) Johnny Knoxville (voice only)
Michelangelo	Robbie Rist (voice only) Michelan Sisti (costume only) Mak Wilson (puppetry only)	Robbie Rist (voice only) Michelan Sisti (costume only) Rob Tygner (puppetry only)	Robbie Rist (voice only) David Fraser (costume only) Gord Robertson (puppetry only)	Mikey Kelley	Noel Fisher (motion capture and voice)
Donatello	Corey Feldman (voice only) Leif Tilden (costume only) David Rudman (puppetry only)	Adam Carl (voice only) Leif Tilden (costume only) Rob Mills (puppetry only)	Corey Feldman (voice only) Jim Raposa (costume only) Rick Lyon (puppetry only)	Mitchell Whitfield	Jeremy Howard (motion capture and voice)
Raphael	Josh Pais (costume and voice) David Greenaway (puppetry only)	Laurie Faso (voice only) Kenn Troum (costume only) David Greenaway (puppetry only)	Matt Hill (costume only) Tim Kelleher (voice only) Noel MacNeal (puppetry only)	Nolan North	Alan Ritchson (motion capture and voice)
Splinter Hamato Yoshi	Kevin Clash (voice and puppetry) Ricky Boyd (puppetry only) Rob Tygner (puppetry only)	Kevin Clash (voice and puppetry) Ricky Boyd (puppetry only) Susan Dacre (puppetry only)	James Murray (voice and puppetry) Lisa Sturz (puppetry only) Tim Lawrence (puppetry only)	Mako	Danny Woodburn (motion capture only) Tony Shalhoub (voice only)
April O'Neil	Judith Hoag	Paige Turco		Sarah Michelle Gellar	Megan Fox Malina Weissman (young)	Megan Fox
Casey Jones	Elias Koteas		Elias Koteas	Chris Evans		Stephen Amell
Oroku Saki The Shredder	James Saito David McCharen (voice only)	François Chau Kevin Nash (Super Shredder) David McCharen (voice only)			Tohoru Masamune	Brian Tee
Chief Sterns	Raymond Serra
Tatsu	Toshishiro Obata Michael McConnohie (voice only)
Charles Pennington	Jay Patterson
Danny Pennington	Michael Turney
Tokka		Frank Welker (voice only) Kurt Bryant (costume only) Gord Robertson (puppetry only)
Rahzar		Frank Welker (voice only) Mark Ginther (costume only) Rick Lyon (puppetry only)
Keno		Ernie Reyes, Jr.
Professor Jordan Perry		David Warner
Whit			Elias Koteas
Mitsu			Vivian Wu
Yoshi			Travis A. Moon
Kenshin			Henry Hayashi
Lord Norinaga			Sab Shimono
Walker			Stuart Wilson
Niles			John Aylward
Karai				Zhang Ziyi	Minae Noji	Brittany Ishibashi
Max Winters				Patrick Stewart
General Aguila				Kevin Michael Richardson
General Gato				Fred Tatasciore
Colonel Santino				John DiMaggio
General Serpiente				Paula Mattioli
Vern Fenwick					Will Arnett
Eric Sacks					William Fichtner
Bernadette Thompson					Whoopi Goldberg
Baxter Stockman					K. Todd Freeman	Tyler Perry
?						Alessandra Ambrosio
Rebecca Vincent						Laura Linney
Bebop						Gary Anthony Williams
Rocksteady						Sheamus
List indicator(s) Italics indicate a transition to a minor role, such as an extended flashback, after the initial appearance. A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Ref(s)
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	March 30, 1990	$135.265.915	$66.700.000	$201.965.915	#331	#568	$13.500.000	[29]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze	March 12, 1991	$78.656.813	49,683,006	$128.339.819	#804		$25.000.000	[30]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III	March 19, 1993	$42.273.609	27,058,288	$69.331.897	#1,665		$21.000.000	[31]
TMNT	March 23, 2007	$54.149.098	$41.459.878	$95.608.976	#1,289		$34.000.000	[32]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	August 8, 2014	$191.204.754	$293.800.000	$485.004.754	#167	#140	$125.000.000	[33]
Total		$501.550.189	$479.701.182	$981.251.371			$218.000.000	[34]
'List indicator(s) A dark grey cell indicates the information is not available for the film.

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film)	41% (49 reviews)[35]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze	33% (39 reviews)[36]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III	21% (29 reviews)[37]
TMNT	34% (115 reviews)[38]	41 (21 reviews)[39]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film)	21% (132 reviews)[40]	31 (33 reviews)[41]	B[42]
List indicator(s) A dark grey cell indicates the information is not available for the film.

References

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2. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Is Coming With Nunchucks and Michael Bay".
3. Fleming Jr, Mike (August 15, 2013). "Paramount Moves 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' To August 8, 2014". Deadline.com. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
4. "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Sequel Underway; Bay To Return". Deadline.com. August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
5. "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' sequel set for 2016". Entertainment Weekly. August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
6. Lesnick, Silas (March 31, 2015). "Arrow’s Stephen Amell to Play Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2!". comingsoon.net.
7. "Tyler Perry joins Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 cast". ew.com. April 23, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
8. Gary Anthony Williams Cast as Bebop in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 comingsoon.net, Retrieved May 17, 2015
9. Spencer Perry. "WWE Star Sheamus Confirmed as Rocksteady for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2". comingsoon.net.
10. Blast from the Past #36 repost: Donatello's new costume
11. Blast from the Past #37 repost: Leonardo's new costume
12. Blast from the Past #38 repost: Splinter's new look
13. Blast from the Past #39 repost: Michelangelo's new costume
14. Blast from the Past #40 repost: Raphael's new look
15. Billington, Alex (March 4, 2007). "TMNT Sequel Planned, Could We See Shredder?". FirstShowing. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
16. Armstrong, Josh (August 19, 2014). "Director Kevin Munroe revisits Imagi’s TMNT franchise". http://animatedviews.com/. Retrieved August 19, 2014. External link in |publisher= (help)
17. Benjamin Ong Pang Kean (June 10, 2008). "TMNT Celebrates 25 Years, III - Peter Laird". Newsarama.
18. ComingSoon (April 23, 2009). "New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Coming!". ComingSoon. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
19. Armstrong, Josh (August 19, 2014). "Director Kevin Munroe revisits Imagi’s TMNT franchise". http://animatedviews.com/. Retrieved August 19, 2014. External link in |publisher= (help)
20. Rich Z (April 24, 2009). "Ninja Turtles Origin Story Due in 2011". Reelz. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
21. ComingSoon (July 14, 2009). "Martial Arts Experts Casting Call for Live-Action TMNT Movie". ComingSoon. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
22. "EXCLUSIVE: Co-Creator Of ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Reveals More Details About New Film". Splashpage.mtv.com. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
23. "Producers Promise a Dark Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie". FirstShowing.net. 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
24. Graser, Marc (2009-07-20). "'Ninja Turtles' relaunch gets writer - Entertainment News, Film News, Media". Variety. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
25. Laird, Peter (August 13, 2014). "TMNT Volume 4, #30". Palblog. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
26. Laird, Peter (October 21, 2009). "Musings about the sale". Palblog. Retrieved October 24, 2009.
27. PRNewswire (October 21, 2009). "The Mirage Group Sells Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(TM) to Nickelodeon". Reuters. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
28. Finke, Nikki (October 21, 2009). "Nickelodeon To Revive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles For TV/Film After Acquiring Global Rights For $60M". Deadline. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
29. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
30. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (1991)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
31. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
32. "TMNT (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
33. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2014-11-24.
34. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Moviesat the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Box Office Mojo, LLC. Retrieved 2014-11-24.
35. "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE MOVIE". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
36. "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II - THE SECRET OF THE OOZE". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
37. "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
38. "TMNT (2007)". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
39. "TMNT Reviews". metacritic.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
40. "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2014)". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
41. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) Reviews". metacritic.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
42. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.