Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the fifth film in the film series and also a reboot that is targeted for release in 2014. The film will be produced by Scott Mednick, Galen Walker and Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes. It is being funded through Lightbox Productions, LLC.

Following the buyout by Viacom/Nickelodeon, the film, once slated for release in 2011, was pushed back one year, and the studio for the film was confirmed to be Viacom's Paramount Pictures. Late March saw the film pushed back again to 2012. Paramount then shot for a 2013 release, but it was later pushed back yet again to May 2014 Furthermore, the name of the film was originally shortened to just "Ninja Turtles", but was then given the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The film got pushed back again for a June 2014 release date. In August of 2013, it was confirmed that it was pushed back once more, to August 2014..

Plot
The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder's diabolical plan.

Cast

 * Pete Ploszek as Leonardo
 * Alan Ritchson as Raphael
 * Jeremy Howard as Donatello
 * Noel Fisher as Michelangelo
 * Megan Fox as April O'Neil
 * Danny Woodburn as Master Spinter
 * Will Arnett as Vernon Fenwick
 * William Fichtner as Eric Sachs/The Shredder
 * Minae Noji as Karai
 * Abby Elliott as a to be confirmed character
 * Whoopi Goldberg as Bernadette Thompson

Production
According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon have brought Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form on to produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the live-action film that reboots the film series launched by New Line in 1990. Bay, Fuller and Form will produce with Galen Walker and Scott Mednick. The studio originally hired Matt Holloway and Art Marcum to write the film for close to $1 million but they left the project. The Studio hired Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec to write the script for the film. According to Variety, Jonathan Liebesman is in talks to direct the film. Deadline reports that Paramount has a Christmas 2013 release date set for the film.

Michael Bay revealed at the 2012 Nickeloden Upfront on March 14, 2012 that the film will be titled "Ninja Turtles" and that the Turtles will no longer be mutants, but instead be members of an alien race. However, considering that Bay is not part of the creative process of the film, this remains to be seen. News of Bay's creative change was met with negative criticism from within the fan community. In response to the announcement, actor Robbie Rist who voiced Michelangelo 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 then 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'Neal in first film, have voiced their support towards the creative change. Co-creator and former rights holder 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" was a "genius notion", as it would allow fans to have the multitude of bipedal anamorphic turtles that they have been asking for. He would point out that while the concept of a turtle planet back story made for a great run of the mill science fiction story, but it had no real place in the Ninja Turtles universe. Co-creator Kevin Eastman stated that he had been invited behind the scenes of the film, and concluded that he was official on board with the project and that, although he couldn't say much, he believes 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 fan's response, since he and Eastman had been locked in a room working on ideas that, from his own perspective as a fan, everybody will love. If anything storywise were to be expanded upon, it would fit in perfectly with mythos. While he wouldn't 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 did enjoy Weta Digital's work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He also pointed out that the film would not be exclusively about action but will also focus on brotherhood, friendship, and responsibility.

In late March Michael Bay posted on his website explaining the title change and stressing that nothing had changed regarding the Turtles. He stated the reason the title was shorten was at a request by Paramount to make the title "simple". He continued that the Turtle 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.

First Showing are reported that Krang could be the villain of the film.

Eastman told Geekscape that the oozes are from an alien origin.

An April Fools' Day joke from Screen Rant that Taylor Lautner is cast as Leonardo in the film. Hip-Hop artist Kid Cudi is rumor for a role in the film. Fans of Community's Donald Glover wants the actor to play Donatello

On June 12, Eastman went on a live chat with The One Ring.net reveals some of the things for the film will includes, April will not be a sixteen year old like in the 2012 series, he thinks Ken Watanabe would make a great Shredder, he'd like to bring Ernie Reyes, Jr. back as a Foot lieutenant, and martial arts wise they are looking at Fist of Legend and The Raid: Redemption.

Three days later, it was reported that production for this project has been shut down. While the release date has been pushed back five months, the work stoppage for the film was said to be "indefinite". However, other sources say that the film will be released on May 16, 2014 due to problems in that script that need to be corrected.

Latino-Review looked at an early draft of the script for the film and revealed that Krang, The Technodrome, BEBOP and ROCKSTEADY & Dimension X were going to appear in the film.

Eastman talk with MTV about film saying that Easily The Best Turtle Movie Yet.

Actress Jessica Biel told Collider that she would like to play April O’Neil in the film.

Kevin Eastman mentioned to Comic Book Resources that the movie is creating its own story but has to be true to the source material or else they will get "f***ing murdered".

An early version of the script was leaked online, dated 1/30/12, titled "The Blue Door", and written by Appelbaum & Nemec, it features major changes to the origins, such as, the turtles are from an alien planet in Dimension X that consists of turtle warriors, Splinter is an alien from the same planet as well, Shredder is now "Colonel Schrader", a government agent who is secretly an alien who can grow blades from his body, "The Foot Clan" is now just "The Foot", a secret government agency led by Col. Schrader, Casey is an 18 year old security guard/amateur hockey player that finds the Turtles and is the focus of the movie, April is also 18 and is having relationship troubles with Casey because she's moving to New York due to an internship at CBS, Rapheal is now the comic relief instead of Mikey, Mikey falls in love with a turtle woman from his home planet. A cease and desist order was sent by Paramount Pictures to a website that was hosting the script. Peter Laird read the script and commented on his blog that "all true TMNT fans should be grateful to the new "powers that be" that they did not allow this wretched thing to go any further"

Peter Laird suggested that it might be CGI Turtles with Live Action Actors there was the idea of having Chris Evans and Sarah Michelle Gellar reprise their roles as Casey Jones and April O'Neil, but this was before Nickelodeon bought the rights to TMNT.

On February 21, 2013, Michael Bay revealed that Megan Fox will be in the cast, playing April O' Neal. On March 21, actor Alan Ritchson is cast as Raphael. That same month, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard and Noel Fisher are cast as Leonardo, Donatello and Michaelangelo. On April 2, 2013, Will Arnett is cast in a role that was being kept secret, but it was later revealed that he would be playing Vernon Fenwick.

The release date was pushed back again for a June 6, 2014 release date and reports surfaced that Evan Daugherty was brought on board to re-write the script. On April 15, actor Danny Woodburn has been cast as Master Splinter. On April 20, 2013, the film was renamed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On April 29, 2013, Michael Bay retracted comments that the turtles will be aliens.

On May 9, 2013, William Fichtner is cast in the film as a lead with iconic stature in the Turtles’ mythology and it was revealed that he's playing The Shredder.

On August 15, 2013, Paramount postponed the release date to August 8, 2014 to avoid competition from other family-friendly films released in June 2014 as well as one of Paramount's other releases, Transformers 4.

Filming wrapped on August 3, 2013.

In October 2013, William Fichtner confirmed that Bebop and Rocksteady would not be in the film.

In November 2013, a source very close to the production revealed that Casey Jones would not be appearing in the film either.

In Feburary 2014, producer Walker posted on his Facebook page that the trailer of the film will be shown with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The trailer was released on March 27, 2014.

Trivia

 * Casting for Foot Clan roles were held when the Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary Shell-Ebration stopped at Los Angeles. The people being casted were ordinary people on the street.
 * Producer Michael Bay stated that the Turtles in this film would be presented as having an extraterrestrial origin. This statement caused a great furor and was met with harsh criticism from much of the fanbase. However, the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman have expressed their support in the alien concept; Laird said it enabled the fans to "get the army of anthropomorphic turtles they have been asking for", and Eastman said he believes the concept to be "awesome!" and pointed out that the ooze that created the Turtles was in fact an alien substance.
 * From the cast of the 1990s Turtles films, Robbie Rist (the voice of Michelangelo) accused Michael Bay of "sodomizing" the Turtle saga with an alien origin. However, Rist's co-stars Brian Tochi (the voice of Leonardo), Corey Feldman (the voice of Donatello) and Judith Hoag (April O'Neill) have placed their support on this direction.
 * The filmmakers chose Weta Digital to do the VFX based on their work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
 * This will be the first time the alien villain Krang will appear in a live-action film, should his character be included in the final draft.
 * The filmmakers cite the martial arts films Fist of Legend and The Raid: Redemption as an influence on the action.
 * The release date of the film was changed to 2014, to celebrate the anniversary of the original comic book series.
 * One of Michael Bay's earlier films, "Armageddon", featured a brief appearance by Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
 * Brett Ratner had been in talks to direct prior to Jonathan Liebesman being hired.
 * Jane Levy, Anna Kendrick, and Elizabeth Olsen tested for the part of April O'Neil.
 * The film is set to release on the 30th anniversary of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" saga.
 * April is seen to wear a yellow jacket. This pays homage to her appearance in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", where she prominently had on a yellow jumpsuit.
 * Ernie Reyes Jr., who starred in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" (and acted as a stunt double for Donatello in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"), pitched a stunt video to Michael Bay so that he could be martial arts consultant on this film.
 * It is possible that the film could be Nickelodeon Movies' third PG-13 rated film.

Quotes
Michelangelo - Chill. It's just a mask, see? don't freak out.

Gallery
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014 film)/Gallery