On the 35th anniversary of its release, Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie…
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the quintessential pop culture phenomenon where a relatively obscure comic book series from an independent publication company got launched into the proverbial stratosphere resulting in the creation of a media franchise encompassing printed media, feature films, animated TV shows, video games and various other merchandise. As it celebrates its 35th anniversary we look at the behind-the-scenes story of the first live-action adaptation of the uber-popular IP…
Many studios turned down the opportunity to finance the project
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the creation of underground comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. First published in 1984 by the duo’s very own company Mirage Studios, the IP simply blew up in popularity transforming into a pop culture phenomenon of unparalleled proportions. An animated series based on the property premiered in 1987, which ran for over a decade. However, in spite of its overwhelming popularity none of the major Hollywood studios were willing to financially back a live-action adaptation due to the box-office disappointments of recent comic book properties such as Howard the Duck (1986) and Masters of the Universe (1987).
It was then that producer Gary Propper had the idea to approach the owner of Hong Kong based production company Golden Harvest to bankroll the movie. Golden Harvest green-lit the project for a paltry $3 million but that price tag pretty much doubled once start of production edged nearer. But soon, Propper faced another obstacle in the form of film distribution. Once again, since all major studios refused to be part of the effort Propper reached out to New Line Cinema out of sheer desperation. The independent studio agreed to handle distribution and thus production moved forward.
The film’s script was a mixture of the comics and the animated series
Bob Herbeck who boasted a prolific career writing for television sitcoms such as M*A*S*H, Diff’rent Strokes and The Jeffersons was the first to be hired to take a crack at adapting the property. After crafting the first draft Todd W. Langen who was a regular writer for the popular coming-of-age TV series The Wonder Years was brought into do a “Page One Rewrite”, which meant a complete rehauling of what Herbeck had submitted. In order to get an idea on the properties’ target demographic Langen and producer Inga Vainshtein called up toy stores around the country to get an idea of who was procuring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. They realized that they had two groups of people to appeal to: the kids and their parents.
To accomplish this the script geared its jokes and pop-culture references to adults whilst the primary story was aimed at children. The script was a mixture of Eastman and Laird’s comics, especially the stories of the turtles’ origins, rooftop fight with the Foot Clan and the climactic battle with Shredder. Some family friendly elements were taken from the popular animated series such as the turtles love of pizza and the fearsome foursome’s penchant for wearing colored bandanas and usage of teenage lingo when they converse.
The movie had a less than favourable budget to work with
As mentioned earlier none of the big name studios were willing to bankroll the project from the very outset. Because of this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a less than favorable budget of $13 million to work with. Which was roughly one-third of what Tim Burton’s Batman had cost a year prior. Due to this reason the producers couldn’t afford to shoot a majority of the film in New York, where the story takes place. However, an unexpected assist came in the form of the state of North Carolina which had come into acquisition of the then bankrupt Dino De Laurentiis Studio and were trying to attract new business opportunities. Eying the opportunity production was soon set up at the Dino De Laurentiis studio at Wilmington, North Carolina in the summer of 1989. While makeshift city skylines and underground sewers were doable, establishing shots of certain iconic locations of the Big Apple had to be filmed as they couldn’t be easily replicated on the Wilmington soundstage.
The music video director of Billie Jean & Take On Me steered the troubled production
Steven Barron can best be described as the chief creative force behind some of the most memorable and critically acclaimed music videos of the 1980s. Some of the music videos the Irish-British filmmaker had helmed which defined the early days of MTV include “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, “Take on Me” by A-Ha, “Africa” by Toto, “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams, “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits, “Electric Avenue” by Eddie Grant and “Don’t You Want Me” by The Human League. Barron’s music videos for the songs “Billie Jean”, “Take on Me” and “Africa” have each garnered over 1 billion views on YouTube.
With a production budget somewhat secured Golden Harvest were now on the lookout for a talented director to helm their project and give a decent output with their limited budget and that’s where Barron came in. With the help of storyboard artist Brendan McCarthy, Barron identified pitched his take to Eastman and Laird. With their blessing the filmmaker and the producers hired Todd W. Langen to retool the existing script by Bob Herbeck to suit there requirements.
Jim Henson was concerned about the level of violence in the story
To say Jim Henson revolutionized puppeteering would be an understatement of grand proportions. Henson was not only responsible for creating the iconic ensemble cast of The Muppets but also directing fan favorite movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles director Steven Barron had worked with the gifted puppeteer on The StoryTeller, which was a live-action/puppet television show, and sought his assistance for bringing the four anthropomorphic turtles to life. At first, however, Henson was concerned about the dark subject matter and the level of violence that would be portrayed in the film but Barron assured him that it would not be so.
The turtle costumes created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in London were some of the most technologically advanced that he and his team had ever created. The costumes utilized state-of-the-art animatronics to create the complex facial expressions and were made of foam rubber latex, which were first created out of fiberglass and remolded from clay. It took 18 weeks for Henson & his team to fabricate these complicated suits for the actors.
Judith Hoag has no idea about the Ninja Turtles franchise
Judith Hoag was wrapping up work on Cadillac Man, which she was starring opposite Robin Williams, when pre-production on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was taking place. Suffice to say, the late actor was confused as to why her co-star was absent from set on certain days and when she revealed that she was playing the female lead on a movie titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Williams instantly knew what she was talking about. Although Hoag went on to have a successful career in the small screen as well as feature film, her role as April O’ Neil proved to be her most memorable.
Sam Rockwell, Skeet Ulrich & Scott Wolf played bit parts in the movie
Whilst Canadian actor Elias Koteas probably had some idea about what he is getting into – as he played the sports crazy Turtle’s ally Casey Jones – actors like Sam Rockwell, Skeet Ulrich and Scott Wolf probably hadn’t the faintest clue of what to expect with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although Sam Rockwell is one of Hollywood’s most critically acclaimed actors as at present, back in the early 1990s he was simply an up-and-coming actor trying to make his break into the industry and one of the earliest roles Rockwell nabbed was playing a foot soldier in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Skeet Ulrich who made his big splash with Wes Craven’s Scream and Scott Wolf who rose to prominence with the TV show Party of Five also played uncredited roles as members of the Foot clan.
Pizza Hut engaged in a multi-million dollar marketing campaign for the film
Since the debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series pizza and our hard shelled heroes have been virtually inseparable. So much so, even the producers of the live-action film thought of including this detail for their take on the anthropomorphic turtles. But the ironical thing was despite the fact that Pizza Hut engaged in a $20 million marketing campaign, it was Domino’s that ended up being used in the movie for product placement purposes.
There were alternate versions of the flick released in different countries
The British theatrical cut of the film was edited to remove certain details of the original theatrical version released in USA. For example, in the UK version all scenes of Michelangelo with his nunchakus were concealed or simply edited out. The German version was identical to the UK theatrical cut but went a step further by dubbing the audio-track with more cartoon-like sound effects in order to soften the overall violence. In Japan, all Japanese sounding names were replaced with Korean sounding ones and “ninja” was replaced with “warrior” or “combat”.
Box-office success, mixed critical reception, and the launch of a franchise
Produced on a production budget of $13.5 million Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went on to rake in a jaw dropping $202 million at the worldwide box-office by the conclusion of its theatrical run. The movie was the highest-grossing independent film up to that point as well as the ninth-highest-grossing movie worldwide in 1990. No mean feat, considering that all major studios passed on the opportunity to finance the effort and failed to see the IP’s potential. But despite its financial achievements the movie proved to be something of a mixed bag for film critics.
Acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert awarded the effort 2.5 stars out of 4 stars writing that it is, “nowhere near as bad as it might have been, and probably is the best possible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It supplies, in other words, more or less what Turtle fans will expect”. Lloyd Bradley of Empire gave the film four out of five stars writing that the experience was, “well-rounded, unpretentious, very funny, knockabout adventure – subtly blended so that it’s fun for all the family”. Both Eastman and Laird have revealed in interviews later on that this installment was the best adaptation of them all, which is certainly saying something.
Of course, the resounding success of the live-action adaptation prompted the studio to capitalize on the IP and thus two direct sequels Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III were released in 1991 and 1993 respectively. However, their box-office grosses and their critical reception diminished considerably. Following the conclusion of that story arc, attempts were made from time to time to reboot the franchise.
After the modestly successful animated film TMNT in 2007, Viacom purchased the franchise and Paramount Pictures gained exclusive theatrical rights and attempted to reboot the series in 2014. However, the subsequent film and its sequel didn’t receive the warm reception that Platinum Dunes and Paramount Pictures were looking for and they didn’t pursue with further plans. In 2023, however, Seth Rogan and Evan Goldman’s animated reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem received a better response from audiences and critics and a sequel has been slated for release in 2026.
What are your thoughts on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
