TMNT Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Us consumers of pop culture all know that there are secrets and there is ooze and that there are also secrets in the ooze that bring about man-sized, crime-fighting, Foot-stomping, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that little fact isn't exclusive to us fans born before 1993. Sure there was TMNT, the recent attempt by Warner Brothers to reboot the franchise for the big screen by swapping out bulky men-in-suits for streamlined CGI, but it wasn't the renaissance resurgence many were hoping for. Enter Nickelodeon, the kid-friendly network, who have just purchased intellectual ownership rights to the sewer-loving franchise from combo owners The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment.

The deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter, went down for some $60 million, and includes plans for a new computer animated TV series as well as a new feature film. The latter will be the result of a team-up between Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, both owned by Viacom, with an expected release date sometime during 2012 (assuming the world hasn't fallen into the oceans by then).

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

I'm in the camp of people who enjoyed the recent big-screen CGI version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but some fans complained it was too kiddie and cartoony, while others demanded a return of the live-action heroes. Good news is everyone might just to get to have their cake and eat it too, as MTV spoke to TMNT co-creator Peter Laird who claimed they're close to making a deal to create a "hybrid" film -- meaning part CGI and part live action. Remember Alvin and the Chipmunks? Yeah, like that ... except more pizza and more kick ass.

Laird explains, "As it stands now, there is no intention of doing another live-action film like the first three, with actors and stuntmen in actual Turtle suits, contrary to what was said by Kevin. We have pretty much decided that the next "TMNT" movie should be what we've been calling a "hybrid" - that is to say, live-action humans and sets combined with very realistic CGI Turtles (and possibly some other CGI characters)." Check our more over on MTV's Splash Page.

This seems like the best way to go about things, because you have to admit that guys in turtle suits just won't work today like it did back then. A combination of live action and CGI could look cool assuming the right budget is in place, and while old school fans will want a more serious and adult storyline, there's certainly a way to give everyone a traditional TMNT story that's equal parts strong, slick and silly.

What do you think? Ideally, where would you want to see the TMNT franchise go?

In what seems like a repeat of last year, the 2008 Annie Award nominations include a Pixar movie and a movie about penguins. The top contenders for the 2007 Annies, which recognize the best in animation, were Cars and Happy Feet. The former ended up winning the big award, Best Animated Feature. However, a couple weeks later it was Happy Feet that won the corresponding Oscar, so the Annies can not be looked at to predict the Academy's decision. In 2008, though, the two awards should actually match. The only real contender for both the Annie and the Oscar is Pixar's Ratatouille. There isn't much chance of this year's penguin movie, Surf's Up, winning either award. If there's any minor competition for Pixar, it's from Persepolis. The other two nominees for the Best Animated Feature Annie are Bee Movie and The Simpsons Movie.

Ratatouille was the leader in nominations at 13, while Surf's Up received the second highest amount with 10. In addition to the top award, the two films are competing in the categories for writing (also competing: Simpsons and Persepolis), storyboarding (also competing: TMNT; Meet the Robinsons; Bee Movie), production design (also competing: Beowulf), directing (also competing: Shrek the Third; Simpsons; Persepolis), character design (no other competitors), character animation (no other competitors, but Surf's Up received two mentions here) and animated effects (also competing: Spider-Man 3; Disney short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater; Ratatouille received two mentions here). One category that Bee Movie seriously missed is voice acting, which features three nominations for Ratatouille -- for Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm and Patton Oswalt.

One thing that is interesting about the Annies is how the awards can be distributed to many different movies. Last year, Over the Hedge won the directing, storyboarding and character design categories, Flushed Away won in writing, voice acting, animated effects, character animation and production design categories and Happy Feet took away no awards. Then again, the year before, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit picked up ten trophies and then went on to pick up the Academy Award. So, the 2008 Annies could go any number of ways.

I think we all know that Ratatouille will win the 2008 Oscar for Best Animated Feature. So, do we really need to waste time nominating others? Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named 12 movies eligible for the award, a shortlist that will eventually be pared down to three finalists when the Oscar nominees are announced in January. Had there been at least 16 eligible animated films this year, the number of nominees would be five, but with only 12, the category will only see three contenders. What could they be? Certainly Ratatouille will be one of them, and it's my guess that Persepolis and Surf's Up (the Academy loves penguins) will be the ones to join the Disney/Pixar sure-thing. I'm on the fence about Beowulf, especially after reading Scott's praise this morning, but I think it has a good chance of eventually being disqualified from being nominated. There's some debate already about whether or not it is technically an animated film. Another movie I have doubts about is Alvin and the Chipmunks, which seems to be primarily live-action. Last year, Arthur and the Invisibles ended up out of the race due to its own matter of having too much live footage.

The full list of animated features: Ratatouille; Persepolis; Shrek the Third, which should be the first of its series to not get a nomination; The Simpsons Movie, which the Academy should deem too television for its award; Bee Movie, which would only get a nomination if the Academy needed Seinfeld to attend the ceremony -- and hopefully it doesn't; TMNT (aka Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters; Alvin and the Chipmunks; Beowulf; Meet the Robinsons; Surf's Up; and Tekkonkinkreet, a Japanese film by American director Michael Arias, which could be a dark horse if Persepolis wasn't the favorite for the necessary foreign animated selection. I'm not sure why Happily N'Ever After was excluded, but I guess it wouldn't have a chance anyway. What do you think should win, or at least make the nomination round?

I bet you didn't see any of this coming. According to Moviehole, Dreamworks has already greenlit a sequel to Transformers and 20th Century Fox has done the same for its Fantastic Four franchise. Transformers was a no-brainer; that film is bound to make a ton of money once it's finally released theatrically in the states next week. No word yet on whether Michael Bay will direct again, but if they want to get the ball rolling right away, I imagine they'll look to fill his shoes. Expect tons of people to cry foul once Brett Ratner's name is mentioned. With Fantastic Four 3, Moviehole's source says the film will again be dependent on who they can "team the Fantastic Four up with." Seeing as Silver Surfer's presence worked, expect another superhero to take his place and join forces with The Four. Here's where you fans get to tell 20th Century Fox what you expect out of the sequel.

And then comes TMNT. Marvel's Steve Murphy recently shared the following info with readers on his blog: ""As of two weeks ago Imagi Entertainment (the TMNT movie animation studio) informed Mirage Studios that there was a 50-50 chance of a CGI film sequel. Last week they upped the odds to 70-30 in favor of a sequel, as talks between Imagi and their distribution partners Warner Brothers and the Weinstein Group seem to be heading in a positive direction..." I'm pretty stoked about this one; TMNT surprised the hell out of me when it hit theaters this past spring, and assuming they bring back Kevin Munroe (a must, in my opinion), expect a lot of good things out of the sequel. And, based on my conversation with Munroe, there's a fairly good chance we'll see an old nemesis show up to wreak some havoc.

Last night, I had the pleasure of talking with TMNT director Kevin Munroe while he was halfway around the world gearing up for the film's Hong Kong premiere. Though it was crazy early in the morning (for Kevin), the guy still managed to unload a mouthful of goodies; we talked everything from working with two production teams (one in the States and one in Hong Kong), to creating a tone and story for TMNT that remains faithful to the comics, but still manages to reach out to people of all ages. During our talk, Kevin opened up about whether or not he'll be involved in a TMNT sequel, what we should expect from Gatchaman, and what he thinks about the Justice League movie. Could it be done? Would he direct it? Read on to find out ...

Cinematical: So, what's the vibe over there in Hong Kong? Are they big Turtles fans there?

Kevin Munroe: You know it's funny, I think the property is much bigger now. I sat down for dinner the first night we got here, and this bus stopped in front of this window behind me, and my wife pointed out that there was this huge TMNT poster plastered across the side of the bus. There's a lot of posters everywhere, it's pretty cool. Tonight is the premiere, so we're gonna go to that. And then there's a crew screening after that, because it was Hong Kong based production, and we'll go to that too.

Cinematical: Talk about working with the crew in Hong Kong. I know there was a 300-person creative team assigned to this film -- some based in California and some in Hong Kong. What was that experience like? Was it hard keeping everyone on the same page, what with the language barrier and everything?

KM: Yeah, you hit the nail right on the head there. It's like an exaggerated, very expensive TV animation model. You have the Los Angeles-based production crew -- that's me, my production designer, storyboard artists, editor -- all the front end kind of stuff. And that was about thirty people or so; that's where we worked with the DP and created all this really specific camera stuff. Then we ship everything over here [Hong Kong], and there was about 350-400 people over here. In the beginning, it was this insane communication challenge. For example, during the monster hunt montage, we wanted to decorate it with wooden pallets in the background. So I told them I wanted pallets, and they kept sending me reference photos of people with open mouths. I didn't understand what they were doing. And then I realized they were thinking the palate of your mouth.

I have a very clear memory of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's "arrival" in pop culture. Although I'd never read the original comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, it was some time in 1987 that I caught the animated series, and while I thought it was tongue-in-cheek amusing enough, I figured I was just a few years too old to get well and truly "geeked out" by the animated amphibians' adventures. I chuckled when I came across all the TMNT books, videos, toys and video games, but I never really felt a connection to the green guys. (OK, I played the arcade game a whole lot, I admit it.)

And then came the live-action movies (1990, 1991 and 1993), two of which I actually saw theatrically, and a third one that I've managed to avoid for the last thirteen years. (Let's just say I'm not a big fan of the flicks.) So while I'm certainly not a "know-nothing novice" when it comes to the cash cow that are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I definitely wouldn't call myself a huge fan, either. I exist in that "live and let live" gray area, and it's there that I neither love nor dislike the pizza-chompin', skate-boardin', slang-slingin' crime-stoppers ... who are also giant, mutated, kung fu tortoises, of course.

Folks, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are officially back ... and with them come a new look, a new enemy and the best film of the franchise by far! It's taken 27 long years to capture the look and feel of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original comic book (which they self-published back in 1984 with money from a tax refund) on the big screen. Originally intended to parody other comics (like Marvel's New Mutants), the Ninja Turtles quickly found a massive fanbase; kids searching for something a tad different, a tad more exciting -- something that was a whole lot of fun. Even after three live-action movies, an animated series, toys, lunchboxes and pez dispensers, the Turtles still somehow managed to stick around -- but not without criticism.

Though the original comics established a dark tone and a powerful, multi-layered storyline, some folks couldn't get past the silly concept. If only the Turtles were a bit more family friendly (but still kicked ass), profits would skyrocket. And they did. Thus, a new generation of kids grew up with a lighter version of the Turtles -- the kind that entertain you stuffed amidst other shows during your Saturday morning cartoon line-up. Die hard fans of the original comics grew up, got jobs and occasionally entertained the wild idea of a big-screen Turtles revival. But they knew it was too late; the superhero market was too crowded. Little did they know at the time, but a guy named Kevin Munroe would show up. And this guy ... he would change everything.

With the special Spider-Man 3 footage airing on TV tonight, and since Zack Snyder's 300 is opening this weekend, I felt it was necessary that we switch things up a bit. So, instead of your regular old Monday Morning Poll, I'm turning out the lights for the first ever Monday Night Poll. (Oh yeah, I can almost hear John Madden calling out the names of some fantastic comic-based films while I write. And you know what -- I kinda want to smack him.) Yes, tonight's poll shouldn't be too hard to figure out; basically, I'm looking for your favorite film(s) based on a comic book or graphic novel (or are they the same thing ... I forgot?).

Recently, Moviefone shelled out their Best Movies Based on Comic Books list featuring 20 pics that range from "Totally awesome!" to "Wait, why and how did that make it in there, again? Mystery Men? Seriously?" Sin City nabbed the top spot, followed closely behind by Batman Begins, Spider-Man 2, X2: X-Men United and Superman: The Movie. While I have to agree with their top five, I was disappointed to see that my Moviefone buds placed Superman Returns (in a tie alongside Superman II) in the number nine spot, in front of Tim Burton's original Batman (which placed tenth). I mean, not only does Superman II deserve its own spot, but Superman Returns should have flew in behind Burton's Batman -- at least, according to this comic book moron. And hey, how about we throw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie a bone?

So, I ask you: What's your favorite film based on a comic book? And, do you agree or disagree with Moviefone's list?

We're jumping between a few different sites today, trying to bring you the coolest news to leak out of WonderCon. Over at FirstShowing.net, they sat down with TMNT director Kevin Munroe who alluded to a possible sequel that, unlike the version hitting theaters on March 23, might actually include the infamous villain Shredder. TMNT fanatics are a little skeptical about the new film, as it takes place after the defeat of The Shredder and includes a new crop of monsters. However, old favorites like April O'Neil and Casey Jones are making an appearance ... so all is definitely not lost. (Heck, the late Mako voices Splinter and Patrick Stewart will voice the evil Max Winters -- even Kevin Smith shows up as a greasy chef. Not bad, eh?)

But what about that sequel? Of course, it all depends on how the first movie does -- and, based on the trailers I've seen, the flick certainly looks a lot better than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles in Time. Munroe did say that a sequel is set up at the end of TMNT with a very "not-so-subtle nod" and, in a perfect world, the next film could bring Shredder back. He says, "Yea, it'd nice, it'd be really cool. As a fan I'd love that. Because we now have these sort of better Shredder stories of how to bring Shredder back. But now if it works out well, and Karai coming to New York, that's a setup for a really good volume in The Turtes in the comics as well, it could work out to a really cool sequel."

Perhaps it's a bit premature to be talking Turtles sequel, but I have a really good feeling about this new film. In my opinion, this CGI look is the best yet; much better than the campy live-action versions and a bit edgier than the cartoon. If you ask any Turtles fan, they wouldn't be completely happy unless we were handed a super dark PG-13 Ninja Turtles flick -- but, you know that's never going to happen. So, we might as well suck it up and welcome whatever Turtles-related coolness is heading our way.