I'll bet that CG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revival movie is still fresh on a lot of your mind but, according to Deadline, a live-action revival is in the pipe. It may be coming as soon as 2012 (hopefully before the Maya Apocalypse) because Paramount’s keen on getting a new big franchise going as soon as TRANSFORMERS wraps up. Art Macum and Matt Holloway have been tapped to turn in a draft by October. The two wrote the first IRON MAN movie and they’ve put together scripts for the in-development BUCK ROGERS and HIGHLANDER reboot movies. Michael Bay’s production company, Platinum Dune, will be involved in this as well.
I was as wrapped up in turtle power as every kid was when the original cartoon was running. In hindsight, the whole thing has to be one of the strangest success stories in all of pop culture. Seriously, this whole thing started as a self-published indy comic by two kids who were parodying everything that was popular in comics at the time. The TMNT were teenage because of TEEN TITANS, mutant because of NEW MUTANTS, ninja because of DAREDEVIL and turtles because that was the most ridiculous thing they could add to that (although it was possibly a goof on CERBERUS.)
There was even the in-joke about the turtles being a young Matt Murdock’s pets. They were mutated in the same accident that gave him radar sense! So this very specific parody has since become a multi-million (probably even mutli-billion franchise) that’s lasted almost continually for 25 years while the very things it made fun have gone in and out of popularity. Amazing, right?
On a less heady note, the original TMNT movie was on TV recently (the original, dark, live action one) and man, maybe my mind’s in the gutter these days, but I couldn’t help wondering which turtle was hooking up with April O’Neil. Which one do you Comic Vine maniacs think it was? I figure Leo's too square, Don's too much of a geek and Mike can't be taken seriously... which leaves Raph, the bad boy.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.
