Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2014 American superhero film directed by Jonathan Liebesman and written by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, and Evan Daugherty. Based on the characters of the same name created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, it is a reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film series. The film stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Danny Woodburn, Abby Elliott, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, and Alan Ritchson, with the voices of Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub. The plot follows the Turtles, who, with the help of their ally April O'Neil, face the evil Shredder and his Foot Clan, as well as protect their New York City home.
The film was announced shortly before Laird sold the rights to the characters to Nickelodeon in October 2009. In late May 2010, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies brought Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller on to produce the film. Liebesman began negotiations to direct in early 2012. The screenplay went through numerous rewrites, with Applebaum, Nemec, and Daugherty ultimately getting final credit. Principal photography began in March 2013, in Tupper Lake, New York, and production concluded in August 2013.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered on July 29, 2014 in Mexico City, and was released in theaters on August 8, 2014. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at its screenplay and characterisations. It became a box office success, grossing $485 million against a $125–150 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film in the franchise, as well as the highest-grossing film from Nickelodeon Movies. A sequel, Out of the Shadows, followed in 2016 to slightly better reviews, but it failed to match the first film's box-office gross.
Plot
In New York State, news reporter April O'Neil investigates a crime wave by a group of criminals called the Foot Clan. At a dock at night, she sees the Foot raiding cargo containers. After an unseen vigilante attacks the thieves, April notices a symbol left behind. April's supervisor Bernadette Thompson and her coworkers are oblivious to her story. Later, while covering a charity event thrown by Sacks Industries, April expresses gratitude to the company's CEO Eric Sacks, who was her late father's lab partner.
Frustrated by the vigilante, the Clan's leader Shredder has the Foot Soldiers take hostages at a subway station in order to draw him out. April, at the scene, becomes a hostage herself. Four mysterious figures arrive, take out the Clan, and free the hostages. April follows them to a rooftop and realizes that the vigilantes are anthropomorphic mutant turtles, causing her to pass out in shock. When she regains consciousness, they advise her not to tell anyone of their existence. As they leave, April hears Leonardo and Raphael's names.
April returns to her apartment and remembers "Project Renaissance", her father's science experiment, which involved four turtles named Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and a mutated rat called Splinter. Unable to convince Bernadette of the Turtles' existence, April is dismissed. Her coworker Vern Fenwick drives her to Sacks' estate where she confides in him about her discovery. Sacks believes her and reveals that he and April's father had been experimenting on a mutagen created to cure disease, which was thought lost in the fire that killed her dad.
At Splinter's behest, the Turtles bring April to their sewer lair. Splinter explains how April had saved them all from the fire and freed them into the sewer. The mutagen caused the five of them to grow and develop humanoid attributes. Splinter took on the role of their father, using April's father as an example. After finding a book on Ninjutsu in a storm drain, he proceeded to teach himself, then the Turtles, the fighting style. When April reveals she told Sacks about her discovery of the Turtles, Splinter informs her that Sacks was practically raised by the Shredder and works with him.
Then, Shredder and the Foot Soldiers attack the lair, defeating Splinter and incapacitating Raphael while the other Turtles are captured. April comes out of hiding and she and Raphael plan to save the others. At Sacks' estate, he has the Turtles' blood drained in order to create an antidote to a deadly virus that Sacks hopes to flood New York with, believing he will become rich from people seeking his cure. Raphael, April, and Vern storm the estate and free the other Turtles. The group then escapes the compound in pursuit of Sacks.
On a radio tower in the city, Sacks and Shredder plant a device that will flood the city with the virus while Sacks is preparing to convert the mutagen into a healing serum. Sacks reveals to April that he killed her father. April and Vern subdue Sacks in the lab, while the Turtles are battling Shredder on the roof. During the fight, the tower's support beams collapse. As the turtles try to keep it from falling and infecting the city, April confronts Shredder with the mutagen. In the struggle, the tower collapses and the Turtles pull April onto it with them, while Shredder falls to the street and is captured by the police. Believing they are about to die, the Turtles confess their secrets, while Raphael gives an impassioned speech about his love for his brothers before they land harmlessly on the street. They vanish before the humans find them and return to the sewers, where they give Splinter the mutagen and he begins to recover.
Sometime later, April meets with Vern, who tries and fails to ask her on a date. The Turtles appear in a special modified "Turtle Van", and Michelangelo accidentally blows up Vern's new car with a rocket. As the police respond to the explosion, the Turtles leave, but not before Mikey tries to serenade April with "Happy Together" by the band The Turtles, much to his brothers' annoyance and April's amusement.
Cast
Megan Fox as April O'Neil, a reporter for Channel 6 News. Malina Weissman plays the younger April. Pete Ploszek and Johnny Knoxville as Leonardo, the leader and oldest member of the Ninja Turtles. Ploszek initially voiced Leonardo for the film but Knoxville was later brought on to dub Ploszek's voice. Ploszek would later return to do the voice of Leonardo in The sequel. Alan Ritchson as Raphael, the strongest member of the Ninja Turtles. Jeremy Howard as Donatello, the most intelligent member of the Ninja Turtles. Noel Fisher as Michelangelo, the most childish and youngest of the Ninja Turtles, who has a crush on April. Danny Woodburn / Tony Shalhoub as Splinter, a mutant rat who is the adoptive father and sensei of the Ninja Turtles. Tohoru Masamune as the Shredder, the turtles's enemy. William Fichtner as Eric Sacks, CEO of Sacks Industries with ties to the Foot Clan. Will Arnett as Vern Fenwick, April's co-worker, who has a crush on her.
The film also features Minae Noji as Karai, Whoopi Goldberg as Bernadette Thompson, April's boss, Abby Elliott as Taylor, April's roommate, K. Todd Freeman as Baxter Stockman, and Paul Fitzgerald as Dr. O'Neil, April's deceased father. Other Channel 6 news employees include Jim McNaughton (portrayed by Taran Killam), and Mr. Rivetti (portrayed by Chance Kelly). Co-creator Kevin Eastman has a cameo appearance as a doctor for Sacks Industries.
Production Development In October 2009, following the news of Nickelodeon purchasing all of Mirage Studios' rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property, Nickelodeon announced plans to produce a new film through corporate sibling Paramount Pictures with an expected release date sometime in 2012. In late May 2010, Paramount and Nickelodeon had brought Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller on to produce the next film that would reboot the film series. For the script, the studio originally hired Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to write the film. A year later, the studio turned to writers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec to rewrite the script. In February 2012, Jonathan Liebesman began negotiations to direct the film, beating out Brett Ratner. Later in March, Paramount pushed back the film's release date to Christmas Day 2013. In early March 2012, Bay revealed at Nickelodeon's 2012 upfront presentation that the film will be simply titled Ninja Turtles and that the turtles would be "from an alien race". News of Bay's creative change was met with criticism from within the fan community.
In response to the announcement, actor Robbie Rist, who voiced Michelangelo in the first three films, wrote to Bay accusing him of "sodomizing" the franchise. Rist later remarked that he could have been out of line since Bay makes more money than he does. In response to the feedback, Bay issued a statement asking fans to calm down since a script had not been revealed, his team was working closely with the creators, and would include all the elements that made them fans to begin with. Both Brian Tochi, who voiced Leonardo in the first three films, and Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in the 1990 film, have voiced their support towards the creative change. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird expressed his thoughts on the change asking fans to take Bay's advice and wait until more of Bay's plan is made available. Laird also stated that he felt the "ill-conceived plan" could be a "genius notion", as it would allow fans to have the multitude of bipedal anthropomorphic turtles that they have been asking for. He would point out that while the concept of a turtle-planet backstory made for a great run-of-the-mill science fiction story, it had no real place in the Ninja Turtles universe.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman stated that he had been invited behind the scenes of the film, and concluded that he was officially on board with the project and that, although he could not say much, he believed it to be "awesome". Via Twitter, Corey Feldman, who voiced Donatello in the first and third films, voiced his support for the film saying that he loves Bay's remakes and he is eager to reprise his role. In response to the backlash, Liebesman stated that he was glad to hear about the fans' response, since he and Eastman had been locked in a room working on ideas that, from his own perspective as a fan, everybody would love. While he did not confirm whether or not Bay's comment did represent the film's premise, he did stress on the ooze itself and its background in the original comic, reminding that the ooze was the product of alien technology. In regards to how the Turtles would be rendered, Liebesman would not say exactly what visual direction would be taken, but he did state that he enjoyed Weta Digital's work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He also pointed out that the film was not to be exclusively about action but also to focus on brotherhood, friendship, and responsibility.
Bay posted on his website explaining the title change and stressing that nothing had changed regarding the Turtles. He also said the reason the title was shortened was a request by Paramount to make the title "simple". He continued that the Turtles were the same as fans remember and regardless of the title change they still act like teenagers. He urged everyone to give everybody who was involved a chance, as they had the fans' interest at top priority and would not let anybody down. Eastman revealed some more information about the film, stating that April would not be 16 years old like in the 2012 cartoon series, he feels Ken Watanabe would make a great Shredder, he would like to bring Reyes back as a Foot lieutenant, and martial arts wise they are looking at Fist of Legend and The Raid: Redemption. Eastman called it "easily the best Turtle movie yet". Kevin Eastman stated that the movie is creating its own story but has to be true to the source material or else they will get "murdered".