Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2007)

[Brian in Mesa]

CGI Ninja Turtles Coming March, 2007
Source: Variety
March 8, 2006

Warner Bros. Pictures will handle domestic distribution of the first all-CGI-animated film in the popular "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise, while The Weinstein Company will take international territories.

Variety says Warners will release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on March 30, 2007. An overseas release date was not announced.

TWC and Warners jointly acquired worldwide distribution rights last fall from Imagi Services, which obtained the production and distribution rights from the Mirage Group, which in turns owns and manages the popular kids franchise.

Animation veteran Kevin Munroe is directing and writing. He developed the screenplay in consultation with "Turtles" comic book co-creator Peter Laird.

"'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' represents a brand that is widely recognized all around the world, and we think this new CG version will be a huge hit among audiences everywhere," said TWC co-chair Harvey Weinstein, who made the announcement with Warner Bros. Pictures president of distribution Dan Fellman.

The studio and TWC said the new PG-rated film will be slightly grittier than the three live-action "Turtles" movies released by New Line more than a decade ago. Combined, those three films grossed more than $256 million at the U.S. box office.

Imagi USA president-CEO Thomas K. Gray, who produced two of the earlier "Turtles" films, and Galen Walker are producing. Francis Kao, Laird, Gary Richardson and Frederick Fierst are executive producers.

CGI animation is being created in Imagi's facility in Hong Kong.

 

[Dback Jon]

Oh boy....

 

[vince56]

I thought this project had died. There was word of an all CGI Turtles movie in development as far back as '98 or '99. They wanted to make it more like the comics, which were pretty bloody. I was honestly hoping it'd be PG-13 or R, and even though I haven't been into the turtles stuff since I was a kid, it'd be cool to see a good movie for them, for a change. The early 90s turtles movies blow, as does the newer cartoon show & the gamecube games.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

It looks like the TMNT trailer will be playing in theaters with "Unaccompanied Minors" (Dec. 8), "Eragon" (Dec. 15) and "Arthur and the Invisibles" (Dec. 15).

 

[dreamcastrocks]

This may be the first time I take my 5 year old to the movies. He loves the Turtles.

Any chance for another Vanilla Ice theme song?

 

[PortlandCardFan]

Trailer didn't look bad. I can dig it!!

 

[Linderbee]

Variety says Warners will release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on March 30, 2007.

This may be my BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

I hope I can buy tickets in advance...

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Slow to return, teen Turtles are back!
By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY

The Chinese calendar says 2007 is the Year of the Pig, but Warner Bros. is hoping to make it the Year of the Turtle.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hollywood's most successful pizza-eating adolescent reptiles, are hoping to make a smashing big-screen comeback in a new computer-animated adventure.

The characters made their pop-culture mark in the late 1980s and early '90s with a popular comic book, after-school cartoon, toy line and hit series of live-action movies. The first movie, in 1990, made an astounding $135 million, and the second and third installments collected $79 million and $42 million, respectively.

"Turtle power" has faded in recent years, but the characters still have a cult following.

Though the previous Ninja Turtles movies were live-action, with martial-arts experts sporting giant rubber suits to play the main characters, the new movie takes them back to their cartoon roots with computerized effects.

First-time feature writer/director Kevin Munroe, who has worked previously in video games, comics and TV animation, says he wanted to do total animation instead of simply inserting digital characters in a real world. He said it's easier for the audience to suspend disbelief for such an offbeat story.

"This way there's no break in the reality between CG and live-action," Munroe says. "With (total) animation, there's a continuous reality that exists for the whole thing. Your mind opens up a little bit more."

Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge, and TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has signed on as the voice of April, the human researcher who serves as the Turtles' tech-services worker and mother figure. Fantastic Four's Chris Evans is the hockey-stick-swinging Casey Jones, and Clerks filmmaker Kevin Smith also voices a cameo as a greasy-spoon chef.

The Turtles themselves will not have celebrity voices, however.

The back story, for those who don't remember, is that a toxic waste spill mutates ordinary turtles into humanoid fighting machines, who are named after Renaissance painters and report to a martial-arts master who is a rat, named Splinter. (Caught up? Good.)

The new threat: Max Winters (X-Men's Patrick Stewart), a tech industrialist who is amassing an army of monsters in the city. Picking up where the previous live-action movies left off, Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael reunite to fight him.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

TMNT

Release Date: March 23, 2007
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Kevin Munroe
Screenwriter: Kevin Munroe
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animation
MPAA Rating: PG (for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language)
Website: TMNT

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Chris Evans, Ziyi Zhang, Kevin Smith, Mako, James Arnold Taylor, Mikey Kelley, Mitchell Whitfield, Nolan North

Plot Summary: After the defeat of their old arch nemesis, The Shredder, the Turtles have grown apart as a family. Struggling to keep them together, their rat sensei, Master Splinter, becomes worried when strange things begin to brew in New York City. Tech-industrialist Max Winters is amassing an army of ancient monsters to apparently take over the world. And only one super-ninja fighting team can stop them—those heroes in a half shell—Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael! With the help of old allies April O'Neil and Casey Jones, the Turtles are in for the fight of their lives as they once again must face the mysterious Foot Clan, who have put their own ninja skills behind Winters' endeavors. Making this new incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles truly cutting-edge, the film will be created entirely with state-of-the-art CG animation, giving them a completely new look for the 21st century.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I thought it was coming out last weekend for some reason. This will be the first movie that I take my son too. He was very disappointed that he could not see it then.

I made him watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Vanilla Ice to hold him over.

 

[PortlandCardFan]

Go ninja... go ninja... GO!!!!

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Go ninja... go ninja... GO!!!!

He chants it too.

 

[Nasser22]

I'm going to see this. I love the turtles!

It passed 300 in it's first weekend, yay! Turtles>Spartans.

 

[PortlandCardFan]

I'm going to see this. I love the turtles!

It passed 300 in it's first weekend, yay! Turtles>Spartans.

Are you serious? Sure it made $25mil the first week. Lets see how well TMNT does on weekend 3.

That said, it was a fun movie. Kinda slow at first but came around.

 

[Nasser22]

Not saying it'll be better. Just a fun fact to throw around. I really want to see both.

 

[Folster]

The trailers look good. The rubber suits that the old movies were done in did not do them justice. I think I will go see it.

 

[Shane]

This was a very average movie. Kids liked it though. Wont watch it again thats for sure. Wait for video and save some money.

 

[General Chaos]

It was entertaining enough. The animation was pretty amazing as well.

 

[Hollywood]

It was entertaining enough. The animation was pretty amazing as well.

I liked it but I kept waiting for Jimmy Neutron to walk by.

 

[Hollywood]

My wife, her friend and I went to see this movie....our daughter declined to go.

 

[Covert Rain]

My son loved the movie. The CGI was hardly down to the level of Jimmy. Though you might be referring to the style of animation with some of the characters. I get that. There are however, some really really good CGI scenes. The fight scene between Raph and Leo in the rain was way to cool.

Overall it was good but not great. The story was sort of .....bland. However, my son loved it so I guess that's what counts.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Recently watched it. My kids liked it, but I was disappointed. I wasn't a huge fan as a kid, but I watched the movies and cartoons because my younger brother was obsessed with them. I remember them being much more silly and funny than they were in this movie.

 

[SuperSpck]

I think the movie was OK. With some tweaking it could have been great. Ah well.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

My son loved the movie. The CGI was hardly down to the level of Jimmy. Though you might be referring to the style of animation with some of the characters. I get that. There are however, some really really good CGI scenes. The fight scene between Raph and Leo in the rain was way to cool.

Overall it was good but not great. The story was sort of .....bland. However, my son loved it so I guess that's what counts.

Have the same thoughts. I got it on HDDVD for like $9, so it was worth it. The story was very bland.

 

[FArting]

I liked the live version better. I saw it on Sunday.