- The first Ninja Turtles movie was the biggest indie film of all time at that point and brought in $134 million dollars.
This is part three, so if you missed All About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Part One and All About Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Part Two, follow the links to read them.
Live Action Movie
Freedman wanted to do a live action feature film but they said no. Freedman, a man in the business, said, “If you sit still, you die. You have to go forward.”
Golden Harvest Pictures had done live action so they put four guys in stunt suits with the help of Jim Henson. It looked like Mark Freedman’s idea would work out after all.
The movie was completed with a screening and someone said, “Well you
fucked that up, Freedman.” The Ninja Turtles movie was dark and violent, nothing like the tv show or the toys.
But when it came out in march 1990, it broke all records. It was the biggest indie film of all time at that point and brought in $134 million dollars.
Turtle toys sold out everywhere and Playmates profits soared. They sold 100 million units alone just in 1990. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles owned 80% of boys space and it was like everyday was a Christmas Day for the toy company.
There were constant coming out with new characters. There were also two playsets. A sewer playset was the headquarters for turtles. The Splinter playset had a street level playset and underground playset.
The technodrome was the villains playset, with a big, huge ball with an eye mounted on top on top of tank treads. It unfolded and opened up with a jail in the middle.
The company expanded themes for the Ninja Turtles and they were soon turtles with sports samurais and space turtles, with the same four figures with different outfits. They even had hip hop turtle, monster turtle, backflip turtles, and turtle trolls.
And for more fun, there were Star Trek, Cavemen, Western, transformer, and even pet turtles that morphed into Ninja Turtles.
No toys were created for the first movie because Playmates didn’t want to support something so violent. But after the first movie blew up, they made a toy line for the second movie.
Then the third. But the movies soon dried out, show ratings declined, and toy sales declined.
Reboot
What do you need more than ever when sales and interest in a product slows? Well, a reboot for the Ninja Turtles of course!
Out came the live action tv series and the show was approached about
bringing a girl into the Ninja Turtles.
Bringing in a girl had been successful with the Power Rangers and brought (more) girl appeal to the toy line. Everyone disagreed about what to do. It was the biggest disagreement since starting the Ninja Turtles.
Laird eventually gave in but said that he didn’t want to be a part of it. It didn’t work. Laird felt his bond with Kevin start to dissolve and Kevin began to lose his love for the turtles. Their friendship wasn’t what it once was.
Kevin was good to let it go, but Peter didn’t want to. He bought Kevin out. The once inseparable roommates, partners and friends, parted ways.
The Ninja Turtles went back to the sewer with Kevin. There were lots of toys out but by 2009 the turtles had crested a wave of popularity.
Viacom came to purchase the turtles, for $60 million dollars. Laird sold.
Kevin eventually got called to come back in and work on the turtles again, the movies, the cartoon show and the comic series.
Where are the Ninja Turtles at Now?
The 2012 relaunch and reboot was a massive success, and this time, it wasn’t just kids watching. Adults were watching with kids. The first generation who watched as kids want to share this with their family now. The toys sold through the roof before the show even aired.
The new movies made $475 million in relaunch in retail sales. The show was cancelled by Nickelodeon in 2017. So they made an entirely new one.
The newest Ninja Turtles show is called the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it goes back and shows them growing up. This of course creates the opportunity to make new toys
If you can believe it, it’s been 30 years of the turtles already and the company has sold millions of toys.
What keeps them through the decades? The humor and action combo, the facts that they live in the sewers and their personalities.
Pete and Kevin created something that they loved and it all happened organically. This is what made the Ninja Turtles what they were.
The two reconnected recently, Kevin and Petter. Laird made a deal through negotiations with Viacom to self publish the turtle comic if he so desired at any time in the future.
How cool is it that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are multi generational? Do you want to see more articles like this?
Hits: 0
