The New Movie And Marketing

[Roseangelo]

In the wake of the new movie's initial opening weekend success followed by box office numbers that declined far too fast for anyone's liking, I've had a lot of thoughts running around in my head about how the movie might have been even just a little more successful or, at least, more well-received.

If you're going to make a movie based on characters' comic book roots, a person should be able to walk into a comic book store and find those roots. I know Peter has no plans to reprint anything from Volume 1 canon before he can go and retone/reletter everything, but it would have been reallyreally smart business sense to have a reprint of Collected Book #1 readily available in every comic book shop, book store, AND Amazon.com at the time of the movie's release.

There are three existing editions of this book and all three of them have been selling on eBay for crazy prices that often breach $100 (and IMO only the hardcover version has been selling at a price fair to what it's actually worth). I know I would love to get at least two more copies of this book for myself (one to have as a personal reading copy and one to keep aside for my nephew until he gets old enough to read it), but I'm not willing to pay more than cover price. If someone who refuses to like a TMNT movie because Shredder and Krang aren't in it were able to walk into a Borders store and discover that Turtles didn't need recurring villians, some minds might be opened and some opinions might be changed.

As it is, the TPBs that Mirage has recently published aren't carried by any bookstores and CAN'T be ordered. I have a friend who works at B&N who tried to order them using the ISBN numbers, but the books weren't to be found in the system AT ALL. What's up with that? They're also not on Amazon.

One of the critic complaints I saw more than once for the movie was that it was just another mindless vehicle to sell action figures. Now, you and I know that's not (completely) true, but can you see any solid, actual evidence that that's not the case? There really aren't any products marketed for adults. And I don't even mean ultra-hardcore violent Turtles who swear and drink beer. Reprinting the old comic books would be a start, but I really think there could be a market for adult novels like there are for Star Trek and Star Wars, as well as several comic book properties and other media tie-ins.

I also think that there needs to be an "Ultimate Guide to:" book published by DK, like there is for every other comic book franchise that has had a movie in recent years. Foremost, I think a book that chronicles the history and evolution of the TMNT franchise is long overdue. But such a book would also be way for the casual fan to understand why Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady will never be seen in another new TMNT project.

And finally, there reallyreally needs to be a regular, on-going comic book that has the intention of at least trying to appeal to the masses. Make it it's own universe (I know, we really don't need more, but I can't think of how else it could work short of Peter wiping out Volume 4, and I don't see that happening), hire some NEW guys to work on it full-time, and publish it monthly. Dare I even say color?

I know a lot of people aren't happy with how WB marketed the film, but the more I think about it, the more I think Mirage could have helped them out a little more, too. And I know all of this is easiler said than done, and for all I know Mirage did consider ideas along these lines, but like the title says, I'm just throwing out some thoughts.