Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[Pawbah]

TMNT has ownly earned about $52,327,000 domestically. I was hoping it would earn more than that. Oh, well. At least they earned more than what they spent to make the movie.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Aye, I noticed that. The $25 million opening weekend was pretty good, all things considered, but for a mid-range kid-oriented animation like TMNT to have legs, it really needed a clear run at the kids market for a little while. In this case, Meet the Robinsons came out the very next week with its hefty Disney marketing clout, so that pretty much hoovered up all of TMNT's business from the second week on.

It's a shame, because retrospectively, I really enjoyed TMNT...it was a flawed film, but at its best it really nailed those characters and struck just the right tone. I for one would really like to see that creative team tackle a sequel, because if they kept what worked about the first one (the look, the mood, the action, the group dynamic), and fixed what didn't (the human character designs, the incoherent narrative, the weak villains), then I do think they could produce a more or less perfect Turtles film. Like Pawbah said, the film has made profit, but I just wonder if it made enough for them to regard a sequel as financially worthwhile. Here's hoping.

[Nyo]

I only saw the 3rd movie, and boy was it bad. Thank gawsh the Angry Video Game Nerd made a review on it.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Originally Posted by Ditchy McAbandonpants

And fixed what didn't (the human character designs, the incoherent narrative, the weak villains), then I do think they could produce a more or less perfect Turtles film. Like Pawbah said, the film has made profit, but I just wonder if it made enough for them to regard a sequel as financially worthwhile. Here's hoping.

I think there will be, the movie got number one at the box office and didn't drop too deeply after it's second week. In regards to the supposed weak spots of the film, I just wanted to say I agree on somewhat half of what you said. For one thing, I actually REALLY enjoyed the use of the human characters here.

The designs didn't bother me at all and I love how Casey and April got so much more involved in this movie then in the past films, their love story was especially interesting and I thought it was such a shame they had to cut so much of it out of the story to keep the movie at a proper running time.

The narrative only showed up at the beginning and end of the movie so that really didn't phase me in the least bit. And finally, I half agree on the villains. I didn't find them weak I just felt they added too many to keep focus on. You had Max Winters, 13 monsters, Karai and the Foot, and the Stone Generals.

That's ALOT to keep track of, had they simply made the movie longer or cut down on the amount of monsters or generals or villains, it would have given the film more ample time to fully develop the characters and give us a chance to see everyone more in depth. I especially was upset over the 13 beasts.

Only 3 got a good chunk of air time, the rest had few second capture scenes and then the rest became the stone generals, and even then only the leader did most of the action and talking. So aside from the too many villains aspect, I loved this movie and I think it's got what it takes to make a fine sequel.

I read around the web the creator of the movie would like to bring in the Rat King, the Shredder, and (more wishful thinking then fact) the Triceratons.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Just looking at the box office numbers again, I think I'd have to disagree with you; the movie dropped down to $9.2 million in the second weekend, which is a pretty steep 61.9% decline, and fell out of the top ten after three weeks. It's now estimated to gross about $55 million, which is closer to the perceived failure of the third Turtles movie ($42m) than either the original ($135m) or its first sequel ($78m)...and that's not even factoring in inflation, or the fact that the new film opened in the largest number of screens and had the highest budget of the four. Again, the film did make a profit, but I do suspect that the studios will have been a little disappointed with the take; or at least, not impressed enough to consider taking the franchise revival further.

In terms of my comments on the film itself: let me first say that I'm a big fan of Jeff Matsuda's character design on WB's The Batman TV show, but I felt they lost something in translation to 3D. The likes of Casey Jones and Karai could pass for "stylised", but April in particular just looked sparse to me, without much to distinguish her aside from her large eyes and thin frame, whilst Winters just looked like a blander version of Mr Incredible.

Story-wise, I broadly agree with you. I feel the film made the mistake a lot of action/adventure movies do these days, namely trying to cram too many characters and plot strands into too short a running time, and ending up not doing any of them justice. As a result, we got a rushed, compromised central plotline that lacked even internal logic (where have the monsters been for the last 3000 years, and why do they all show up in New York at the exact same time?), backed up by similarly malnourished and ultimately pointless subplots. Don't get me wrong; both the Karai/Foot and April/Casey plot strands had some nice moments, but at least in terms of the scenes that were actually left in the final film, they felt far too undercooked to resonate on their own merits, and added next to nothing to the main narrative itself. It seems harsh to say, but unless they were willing to make the movie at least 30 minutes longer, it might have actually been better to cut those character arcs completely, and focus on fleshing the far more important (plot-wise) characters of the Turtles, Winters and the generals. As it was, the double-crosses and payoffs pof the finale had little impact, mostly because we didn't really know who these characters were.

It might sound like I'm really putting the boot into the film here, but that's not my intention; like I said, I actually really liked TMNT, because what it got right it got spectacularly right. The mood and look of it were just perfect, Klaus Badelt's score was really quite stirring, and, disappointing lack of Mikey nunchaku action aside, the action sequences were the best that the Turtles have ever been in. More importantly, the Turtles themselves were brilliantly characterised with some great writing, excellent casting and a great brotherly dynamic. Mike and Don were a little sidelined, to be sure, but they made their mark in thetime they had, and left the stage clear for a Raphael-Leonardo that was played to perfection, from the Nightwatcher subplot through to that rooftop fight sequence where every good point about the movie came togther in one flawless scene. When I criticise the other aspects of the movie, I hope I'm being constructive, because I do believe that if they fixed those elements, they could indeed make a sequel that's everything a Turtles fan could want. I just hope they get that chance.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

I don't worry too much about the money charts simply because of two words: Uwe Bowell. A guy who is going down as the worst director in the history of film, and a guy who NEVER makes his money back on the god awful movies he creates, yet he still manages to make more movies and yes, sequels too.

The Turtles franchise is capable of surviving regardless of grand failure or grand success. The fact that 3 different turtle shows managed to arise out of the ashes of the dreadful 3rd one says to me that it's a series that won't stay dead no matter what and that this was definitely a step in the right direction.

The thing i loved especially about this movie was the main goal the director wanted to accomplish: use the turtles to their full potential. The CGI allows them such fluid mobility and acrobatic accurate ninja movements that it's amazing to think they got away with such heavy costumes in the 90's films.

I also felt that Karai's story was handled nicely simply because it's obvious from the ending that her story has much more open ground to spread across, especially considering they are aiming towards bringing back her infamous father. The monsters reason for departure I suggest two possibilities.

One - the reason they left were simply because they had no interest, desire, or reason to be in the city. The monsters originated from jungle land considering the opening story and they probably felt more at home hiding around the world. Anyone who found any of the 13 would be dismissed.

The 13 beasts would be written off as another Bigfoot in the making, though this one isn't what i call a strong argument admittingly. However, i feel my second suggestion is solid. Two - I believe the monsters showed up at the EXACT time is an internal clock effect, it's something they are bred with.

That spell or portal is tied directly to them, and much like the 4 titans that reacted to similar "space time" events in the animated "Hercules" movie, that point in time drew them like moths to a fire. The creatures are all connected, we know that for sure considering you need all 13 just to break the curse.

That's my view on the whole "why they came back thing" Ditchy. I think they were worried about making the movie TOO long especially considering they are relaunching a franchise and that's better to be safe then sorry in movie producers cases. Movie times are becoming an increasingly big consideration.

Ever since "Grindhouse" and "King Kong" have failed to meet their money making demands, films are being cut down as studies show they are main source of audience alienation. Or so I've read. In any case, I thought the dividing up of Don and Mike and Leo and Raph was a genius stroke.

Why? Because this movie actually does a BRILLIANT job following the old ones. Casey and Raph share a strong "fighter bond" just like how they started off when they first met in movie 1. Plus, the first movie split the turtles up the exact same way and focused on the exact same turtles in the first film.

Whenever the story focused on Leo fighting or involving with Raph, Don and Mike would have this conversation, or similar ones:

Don: Fight?

Mike: Fight

Don: Kitchen?

Mike: Kitchen

I feel that conversation pretty much sums up their involvement in both the first movie and TMNT.

EDIT: On a funny side note, I got bored thinking about the 13 monsters being nameless and all and I actually made up names for em myself. Since the creators didn't seem to do otherwise.

[AerostarMonk]

There's a reason Uwe Boll gets his money and sequels. It's because his films actually have a tax loophole. If they fail the studio still gets a profit. In fact more so than they would if the movie were successful.

[emperor26]

Actually, according to one source, "King Kong" actually did well, making $500 million worldwide.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Originally Posted by emperor26

Actually, according to one source, "King Kong" actually did well, making $500 million worldwide.

Yeah but the thing was, the movie was lined up in direct competition with "Chronicles of Narnia" and Narnia actually beat it out in the long run. Which is extremely funny because Kong had raving reviews and was advertised on practically EVERYTHING known to man.

While Narnia was barely advertised, and was usually picked at by critics. But back on topic, if they do make a TMNT sequel I prey they stick with their original suggested idea and bring Shredder back because I freaking LOVE Shredder. I think he is one of the greatest comic book villains ever.

He was totally bad ass in both movies, his helment in the 2nd film looked especially sweet. I just wish they hadn't butchered his image so poorly in the 2003 series by making him a freaking alien brain thingie.

[AerostarMonk]

I don't think that really was to much of a butchering. It seemed like more of a reinterpretation of well-traveled material. I mean the comics don't offer much, seeing as he died in the first volume of the original material.

I actually hope he stays dead. I'd much see the Triceratons or Baxter Stockman show up among others. Or the Utroms who are responsible for the Turtles mutation in the first place. They've tested the waters on how much belief the audience can suspend in TMNT and it seems they can suspend it a lot.