Being the avid TMNT fan that I am, I can’t believe I missed all this! First, to catch you up:
April 22, 2009
Legendary Pictures former chief marketing officer Scott Mednick is producing the project alongside Galen Walker, who produced the 2007 animated TMNT movie. The project will be a reboot focusing on the origins of the turtles, and is currently slated for 2011.
One of the original creators, Peter Laird, said the movie will remain true to the spirit of the original comic books. “The original comics created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman are some of the best source material one could hope for,” said Mednick, who also executive produced the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are. While we at one time reported that this might be a CGI hybrid movie, Variety says that they’ll use “face replacement technology,” which will allow the turtles to be much more expressive. It sounds like they definitely won’t be dusting off the old rubber suits, which is a bit unfortunate for fans like myself.
Now, flash forward to yesterday, April 28, 2009
“I can say that at this point there are a lot of positive feelings about a Batman Begins-style ‘reboot,’ which would, of necessity, include a retelling of the Turtles’ origin story,” Laird told MTV. I get giddy just imagining a gritty PG-13 Batman-like TMNT movie, but that probably won’t happen, because I’m sure studios will focus on its connection to kids. Even though Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comic did debut in 1984 and has a lot of older fans. Laird continues, “Having said that, I would also be into an all-new story, if it was decided that that was a more desirable direction. Either way is fine with me, to be honest!”
And as for other wild ideas, Laird throws some more crumbs out for fans. “I would not be unhappy to somehow see the tale of Baxter Stockman and the robotic ‘mousers’ folded into this movie, as well as some elements possibly setting up the TCRI connection for a possible sixth (or seventh) movie. But I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself there.” For those of you also confused by that “sixth or seventh” reference, I think he is eluding to the eventual progression of the series. As in, we’ve had four movies at this point (including the animated TMNT movie of 2007), so this new one would be the fifth Turtles movie.
If you’re a longtime fan of the comics, then all of this should definitely be getting you very excited. I know I’m just getting pumped to see so much talk of the Turtles back in the mainstream news again. And as for the full body suits, Laird reiterates that they won’t screw this up again. “The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits,” then later use CGI to add facial expressions. The reference he uses is Davey Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. “This technology has been proven to be incredibly effective if done correctly.” I’ve heard enoguh, bring on the Turtles!
(courtesy firstshowing.net)
I for one like the CGI version from a few years back, and while I am glad to see that they are making another live-action movie, I hope they just stick with it this time. Let’s find a good medium and stay with it, I don’t want them flip-flopping every few years on what the best medium to do a Turtles movie is!
But hey! Good news overall I think! Looking forward to what they come up with!