What will it take for another comic book styled movie to happen?
 

Is there any hope for a new TMNT movie set in a dark and gritty tone like the original comics like the first film did? What do you guys think it will take and who do you think can respect the source material? If the public can take a man who dresses up like a bat seriously even after the Silver Age, why can't the turtles recieve the same treatment?

Sounds like it would be a rather niche movie. Maybe one day Nickelodeon will allow something like the DC animated movies.

I wouldn't exactly say that the first movie was as gritty as the Mirage comics. More like a cross between them and the Fred Wolf series. I think it will be atleast ten years before we see that kind of reboot though.

Not going to happen, As long as Nickelodeon owns the IP, They will make it appeal to kids.

Wait the first film didn't appeal to kids?

It'll probably take years - if not at least a decade or more - before the Platinum Dunes TMNT fades from public consciousness (since there are supposed to be three movies). This is likely how long we'll have to wait for a reboot. I just don't see there being two film versions of the turtles existing side-by-side or even one after another.

It did of course, but then all the uptight parents got butt-hurt about the language and violence.

All it takes is a reboot, next time they reboot the turtles they can market the movie as "like the original comics" while this incarnation can be based on the OT a little more, so yeah maybe in ten years after they stop making sequels to the current movie and enough time has passed to reboot the film franchise.

Yeah I would pretty much say the butthurt parents made the movie look way darker than it actually was.

I don't ever see it happening. So long as nickelodeon holds the property, the main goal will be to get as many kids packed into the theater as possible.

The only way it happens is on an off chance Nick allowed an animation studio to adapt Mirage volume one into a home release(s) or a motion comic series...this would be as close as we would get to seeing a true to the original source adaptation.

I strongly believe that the best TMNT movie will always be the original, it had a great mix of original comics and cartoon...appealed to both kids and adults.

That'd be a nice take on it imo

Imagine if they go the Sin City movie route, that'll be epic.

As an animated 30-40 minute movie, sure.

what would it take?
 

in my honest opinion... a lot.

I would love to see a dark anime style TMNT based on the B&W Comic but in color.

Not in the foreseeable future, no. And I'd hardly accuse Danny: The Movie of having a "dark and gritty tone" or being "like the original comics"... it only appears as such when in comparison to the other "films."

Well, the answer is a delicate one. TMNT Part 6: Electric Fred Wolf Bugaloo or whatever it's called will need to bomb... but not bomb so badly that the franchise as a movie series becomes indefinitely radioactive.

Then it needs to sit on the shelf for another 10 years before anything resembling a serious take can be approached. Though at this time Viacom/Nickelodeon seemingly have no interest at all in the TMNT in any capacity beyond various reimaginings of the Fred Wolf cartoon... so either a major shakeup in staff or a major shakeup in mentality (both unlikely) would be necessary to take place. Or some kind of total liquidation of the TMNT rights to a third party (highly unlikely, barring TMNT Part 6: Electric Fred Wolf Bugaloo bombing super hard and the cartoon and toy line's complete failure/exhaustion... and even then, if things failed that badly financiers would be unlikely to invest in future projects).

Who knows, really. But it would take someone with enough cred in proven films to where that person wouldn't just be a pushover for the studio or toy companies or a puppet director (Liebesman on TMNT, Hemingway on Red Tails, etc.)... and it would need to be someone who emphatically understands and respects the Mirage source material.

A straight out adaptation would not be necessary, but a director with a vision that fundamentally wants to bring the essence of Mirage TMNT to the big screen... that would work. The thing is, the odds are pretty low Paramount would hire such a guy.

The thing with TMNT now -- and people seem to forget this -- is that there is no longer a human being at the heart of the intellectual rights any longer. There's not. They both cashed their chips and said "peace!" You know, the guys that with the ability to shoot down every horrible movie pitch or licensing deal thrown their way, or could actively mold or shape things? Yeah, there's nobody anymore. What's left is a corporate entity approaching every aspect of TMNT from the cold lens of a business perspective, period. In the days of Kevin and Peter holding the rights, there was always the hope of, "Well, maybe someday, somehow someone who 'gets' TMNT with a bold vision would get the right financiers aboard and approach Kevin and Peter"... but now that person would just be walking into a room with board executives with their accountants and flow charts, solely interested in recreating the "Turtlemania" of the Fred Wolf days.

Because of cowabunga and pizza and Bebop or any one of a slew of things that the new rights holders of TMNT are now actively not letting pop culture forget about.

What would it take?

An act of God.

Or, potentially, for the IDW comics to continue for years and become as well known as the Nick cartoon. Then in a decade or so, for any new potential take on the franchise to look to IDW first and foremost for inspiration and adaptation.

Honestly, Mirage is just too obscure and "indie." IDW does a better job of presenting a semi-serious but accessible take on the TMNT, and is, I believe, the best possible face for TMNT. Unfortunately, it is a massive third wheel to the powerhouses of publicity, the Platinum Dunes movies and the Nickelodeon cartoon.

People said that about Hellboy, Sin City, and The Crow. It just takes giving the material an honest shake and not worrying about the kiddy crap.

But yes, basically. An act of god is what it would take at this point.

I kind of agree.

Maybe an economist. If you look at the numbers, the first movie made the second most, losing only to the most recent film. A lot of that is probably down to changes in ticket prices and international markets, I'd imagine. I wonder if anyone has a way to adjust for that... Anyway, those two are the high earners. Now take a look at their production budgets, and realize they are way, way different than the final money made numbers. The first movie cost like 13.5 million to make and made 202 million. Latest cost 125 million and made 485 (assuming these quickly googled numbers are correct enough anyway). Nearly 10 times the budget did not get them 10 times the profit.

Obviously production too has changed, so this isn't the greatest argument, but it's one way of looking at it, I guess. The budget and quality of the original film are both most likely down to it being an independent production versus the new one being a big name "important" studio where films are made by committee. I do wonder if at-the-time puppetry tech cost anything at all comparable to modern day CG effects, probably not I suppose.