Michael Bay seems to just have his awesome fingers in everything lately, and now adding to an already full dance card, he has signed a deal to produce the on again off again live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
Michael Bay and his team of lovable misfits (Brad Fuller and Andrew Form) have inked a deal with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon to produce a live-action reboot of the beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The group is scheduled to meet with writers in the next few weeks
Now there are a lot of Bay Haters already climbing all over this suggesting that Bay’s involvement is a strike against the hopes of seeing a Ninja Turtles live action film revival.
But honestly, go watch the original live action Turtles film. They are so filled with cheese and camp and do not hold up well over time at all. Really? Vanilla Ice! Ok, if he cameos – that would rock.
I hope Bay goes more for the gritty more serious mood found in the original Eastman and Laird graphic comics that left the silliness in the concept and moved forward instead of the goofball surfer Turtles we got with the animated series.
I liked the animated series, and the graphic and violent original black and white comics were awesome too. But two different appeals there.
Considering this is going to be marketed at a younger demographic its unlikely they would make it so gritty. But more towards the feel of the last animated film would be nice.
Any chance Megan Fox land’s the role of April O’ Neil?
It is interesting having read some of the comments that the original Ninja Turtle comics were more dark and serious. I’ll admit I grew up with the lighter, pizza-loving turtles. So for me, if this next movie happens to be more serious, I would be one to be dissapointed.
The Island was pretty good, and Scarlett in that red top was delicious!
Bay has his audience and broad appeal
while I dont think he’s the Master Craftsmen like a….. Scorcesse, he makes loud, visually entertaining spectacles that are a guilty pleasure.
that’s all
I didn’t think I’d chime in, but I’m bored today.
Anyhow…
While I agree with the commenters that the Steve Barron directed Turtles film back in 1990 had charm and was, among the three L/A films, the closest to the graphic novels…it also had to tilt the scales a little. It is just good enough for those over 18 to tolerate and clean enough for those under 18 (or even under 10) to enjoy.
“Campy and cheesy” does not always mean a bad thing. I would consider many films with a ‘cult following’ to be in this way. The 1990 Turtles would fit into this niche. Am I a big fan of the first film? No. But I did appreciate the work done by the Jim Henson shop (as well as enjoying Barron’s other camp-cheesy film from the 80’s- “Electric Dreams’)
I disagree with Lady L in that the Turtles 1990 outlasted the appeal of Tim Burton’s Batman. It’s comparing an apple to a head of lettuce. The only thing about 1989’s Batman is that after seeing The Dark Knight, it has less juice. We’ll still watch it again, but the more recent Joker story beats it in spades. By that, yes, ’89 Batman has lesser appeal. But not by Turtles standards.
The Turtles, reboot or remake or whatever, has, like it or not, a shroud over it. Many people, including myself, would go nuts if Bay laid down a gauntlet and went strictly source material. (Blood; severed limbs, the works) But seeing who else is involved, it probably might not be so.
They can have a script, if they like, that goes towards the Mirage version (the version WE would like to see) but we also know, if such a thing were to happen, it would be short lived. At some point, it would have to watered down a little bit for “The Turtles” are going to have to sell toys. How dark can you get? Whenever I hear these promises “it’ll be hard edged” it will be “gritty, dark”. I can’t stop laughing.
I know- you know- what will evolve. It will be aimed towards the younger set. Nothing really wrong with that in essence – we can take our families out for clean fun and all- but it is only a shadow of what the fans of the original comics will ever get. It’s not a horrible thing…but let’s not get our hopes up.
As for the hate on Bay. I don’t like all of his films. Someone else does. I think most of his films are hyperactive and expensive messes. His films are hits, he make the studios money. Horror remakes aside, the man is bankable, that cannot be disputed.
And furthermore, I liked The Island.
And that’s his only “bomb”
Go figure.
I hope they sign Vanilla Ice to do the soundtrack. A “Ninja Rap” remix would top the Billboard charts for three months straight!
Yeah the first three live actions films did have some campy and cheesy towards them but again they were targeting kids to go watch it so thats why I let it pass. When I was a kid and watched the first one I was so dissapointed that there was no Kang, Rocksteady or Bebop since I was so hooked on the animated series. But now that I’m older and not much wiser I get it (sort of).
I do expect lots of action, and flips all around. Need to have some shurikens thrown around and the foot clan getting their asses handed to them.
NINJA, NINJA…RAP! GO NINJA! GO NINJA GO!
Cheese and camp? Honestly, I think YOU need to go back and watch the original again. Yes, the sequels turned into a live action cartoon, but I still feel like the original has a lot of grit and still(somewhat) stands the test of time.
I own the originals (all three) and even the first one, while less cheesy then the two sequels, is still all sorts of camp and slapstick. Martial weapons and martial arts designed to kill and the worst anyone gets is a bumping around set to the pace of pizza loving turtles quipping one liners.
The injury/recovery at the farm and the Turtles coming to maturity about responsibility was the only depth the movie had. Hardly enough to call the film “gritty” “Cowabunga dude” is not cool as it was then. It does not hold up.
The story from the first movie was an awkward hybrid of the cartoon and the comic. Everything good in the first movie was taken from the comic. The rooftop ambush and the recovery at the farm were taken from the comic.
The ‘surfer dude’ dialogue, the pizza jokes and April O’Neil were all from the comic. (In the comic April is ethnic, and marginally employed)
I’ve always wanted to see someone make a movie of TMNT issues 4, 5 and 6, where the turtles are transported to an alternate universe/across space and time, into a world that is somewhere between John Carter on Mars and an issue of Heavy Metal magazine.
The third movie has them transported to Feudal Japan.
Just sayin…
Hopefully they keep Bay on creative leash, especially after the total disasters that were the last two Transformer movies. TMNT was Citizen Kane when compared to those movies.
And clearly those Transformers films were just a disaster and flopped so big at the boxoffice because everyone thinks he sucks.
Box office does not equal quality.
But there is still a direct coalation between the two.
Movies that are universally hated and considered to be of poor quality do not rake in this much money.
People go to these movies, sometimes repeatedly because they like them.
Just because something is popular is not the be all end all indicator of quality, with enough hype and lack of direct competition, many of a BAD movie has done well at the box office.
Bad in your Opinion. Clearly not a broad statement of quality as many people willingly went to see it, some even more than once.
Not saying the formula is absolute, but when a movie makes SERIOUS money, there has to be some degree of broad appeal. In this day and age of information shared online, a bad movie is quickly discussed and shot down.
Yes, bad in my opinion, but me going to a movie 15 times doesn’t automatically make the movie good, it just meant I personally liked the movie enough to go see it 15 times.
And as an internet savvy person such as yourself should know, the online world hardly reflects the real world, or else, given the amount of bile aimed at Transformers 2, that movie should have went straight to Betamax.
Ive seen plenty of “bile” thrown at the Sex and the City Movie but plenty of people loved it and they made another because of that.
Its trendy to hate on movies. There are sites that monopolize on being negative about movies. That doesn’t mean the movie is universally bad or no one would go to it.
Again, just being popular/profitable doesn’t make a movie automatically good. Some movies such as Transformers and Sex in the City were going to make money thanks to studio hype and built in audiences. Getting a sequel just means the first movie made enough profit to warrant a sequel, not because they were good.
Didn’t say that it had to automatically change your opinion on the film because it raked in the money.
Just that there is evidence that many people would disagree with you about the movie since SO MANY people actually went to it even with all this “bile” written about it. Or possibly saw it twice despite your feelings on it.
Boxoffice doesn’t mean you have to think its good, but it would be ignorant to assume you are in the majority when its had this much of an attendance.
I don’t believe I said anything about being in any “majority”, just that in my opinion, and I reapeat, in my opinion, Transformers was utter disaster of movie. You will have to come to realize and accept that there are people who feel the same way about the movie(it did win the Razzie after all) and have no problem voicing there opinions.
Nor will I take box office as a true sign of quality, since there are plenty of great movies that do nothing at the box office.
All Transformer’s box office says to me it was popular, not necessarily good, which in my opinion, it wasn’t.
Turtles came just after my “generation”, I enjoyed the original movie for what it was. TMNT to me was terrible.
Interested to see them now in slow-motion shots and crazy camera swoops.
!!!Hopefully they bring Corey Feldman back to voice Donatello!!!
It’s interesting to think how this would play out using that Avatar-style motion capture effect. The characters could look pretty sweet–though, there’s something awesome about the original foam suits…
Castle91 & John are right, by the way, the first movie ruled. However the series played out the 1990’s Batman franchise, in that it became progressively worse with each release.
Whatever turn this version will take, Michael Bay is not the right guy to breath life into this thing.
The recent CG TMNT movie was okay but come on there was no Shredder. Yes there are other villians but when most people (outside of those who read the comics/novels) think TMNT they think Shredder.
I would love to see a new movie but like Dan says I think because of my age (29) I don’t think I would enjoy it the same way I enjoyed the first live action (which honestly to this day I still catch on TV when it comes on every once in a while). It would nice if the film would turn out to be something that could appeal to the older and younger fans but frankly as one gets older that feat get a bit harder.
I got to say I did enjoy the CG TMNT movie. I know it wasn’t what everyone wanted for the next TMNT movie but I was still entertained by it. A live action film would be fun and exciting for us who had seen the last 3 as children, but I’m just not sure how one would make that a live-action film and not turn out a little cheese ball. I mean they are human sized talking turtles that study karate.
Ninjitsu…. just sayin.
For the love of God, please bring back Bebop and Rocksteady. I’ve said this since the original 1990 live action flick.
the last cartoon movie TMNT Forever was awsome it was a made for TV movie but they tied in all the cartoons and comic books toghteher.
the 1986 turtles end up in 2004 with the new turtles and then they go back even further to the black and white comic book turtles.
eveyone was there from beebop and rocksteady to krang to splinter to casey jones.
if you havent seen it find it its a must for any turtle fan
i wonder if bay will meet with th guys who i have been following on facebook ninja turtles: dawn of the ninja, i think its called. and they had a really good spin to it. so i hope it goes to them to write it. but i loved the first one. it was dark. to me it still holds up, may be in my top ten of my fav movies of all time. and with elias koteas as casey jones, pure classic. “ill never call golf a dull game again.”
I still claim that the original Turtle Movie had plenty of grit to appeal to everyone.
I have very little hope that this new film could possibly be anywhere near that standard. “TMNT” disappointed me.
I completely agree with you about the first film. It was definitely gritty and had heavy tones of darkness. Even at such a young age I was surprised with how good it was. The second and third films were definitely on the lighter side thus taking the franchise in a completely different direction.
Yeah, the first one is still pretty good. It was made in a more innocent time though, and for some people, that makes it feel dated. I think it’s charming.
Its interesting to note that the first Turtles film was actually made before the Turtles pop-culture phenomenon, and it was just supposed to be this tiny little b-movie. I think the budget was around 10 million, and more than half of that went to Jim Henson’s creature shop for the costumes. Henson cut a deal to do the costumes at a discounted price because they thought the project had ‘heart’.
Also interesting, at the time (1989) there were 6 major comic-to-film properties that were made or in the works. They were:
-Burton’s Batman
-TMNT
-The Punisher (w/Dolph Lundgren)
-James Cameron’s Spiderman (never made)
-Captain America
-The Fantastic Four (Roger Corman)
Of those 6 properties, 1 was never made (Spiderman), 2 bombed after sitting on the shelf for years (The Punisher and Captain America). The Fantastic Four was filmed but never released (and is a rare prize at Comic Cons to this day) and Burton’s Batman hasn’t aged very well. At the end of the day, TMNT turned out to be the best of the bunch.