Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - the 2014 version - wasn't expected to hit big. Here's how it managed to do so.2007’s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, TMNT, received a lukewarm reception and, while it had returned $95m from around the world on a $34m budget, hadn’t seen enough success at the box office to convince anyone to pursue a sequel (one had been teased in the film).
Two years later, in July 2009, Paramount announced that they had hired John Fusco to write a new live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I know what you’re thinking; ‘John Fusco, the ALF guy?’, but that’s actually Paul Fusco. John Fusco had just written marital arts movie The Forbidden Kingdom and had previously penned both Young Guns films.Then, a few months later, it was announced that Laird had sold the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise to Viacom (Viacom owns both Paramount and Nickelodeon). Again on his blog, Laird remarked that the sale “could very well mean a brighter future for the TMNT property than was previously feasible” and said that he would be stepping away from the Turtles for a while.
The sale had implications for the film, of course, but it’s worth taking a moment to consider what a change it would be for Ninja Turtles as a whole. In its way, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had always been a bit punk rock. It was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, who retained control over it for 25 years. All TV shows, films, toys and merchandise came back in some way to the two (obviously their control over the final products varied considerably, and Laird was in sole control for a good portion of that time). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was homemade. Finally, after 25 years, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael had jobs. They’d gone corporate.
At the time of the sale it was announced that the movie would be released in 2012, just as a CG cartoon from Nickelodeon would hit television screens. Only the cartoon would stick to that schedule. Here at Den Of Geek, we love that cartoon very much.The following year, in May 2010, Deadline revealed that Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes would make the new Turtles film. It was reported that Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form would produce the movie alongside Galen Walker and Scott Mednick. The article also noted that they intended to meet with writers, which cast doubt over Fusco’s continued involvement in the film.
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