Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Promo Art Revealed
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While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake is one of our most anticipated science fiction movies of the year, the new film from Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes has been under the microscope since the project was first announced in 2011. A few days ago, images leaked of the Turtles design that made the Heroes in a Half Shell actually look cool, especially when compared to the kiddie Halloween costume. Now a new promo banner has leaked that gives fans a better look at the Turtles.
As posted on Comic Book Movie, a banner poster from an upcoming Toy Fair reveals the final design of TMNT‘s character design. All four Turtles have their distinct colors, and also showcase their trademark personalities through their clothing. Leonardo looks like a classically trained ninja warrior, Raphael looks like a tough guy with a full red rag on his head, and Michelangelo looks like a surfer, while Donatello looks high tech and gadget heavy. I have to admit that these Turtles look like an updated version of the Turtles featured in the older movies, and definitely aren’t cartoonish, which is a good thing. It’s actually impressive!
Perhaps this is the first sign that the remake won’t be completely terrible. Almost everything we’ve been hearing about the project since 2011 made the movie sound like a campy version of TMNT, instead of a gritty and realistic one that the fans of the series were itching for. Hopefully, the movie looks just as good as these character designs.
The production got a lot of fans hot under the collar when a script leak revealed that the Turtles were space aliens rather than just mutated turtles. The title of the film changed from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Ninja Turtles, then back to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, although the banner above is clearly labeled as Ninja Turtles. Bay later insisted the Turtles would not be aliens, but would stick with the classic origin story. Unfortunately, Paramount Pictures put the project on hiatus, to be released in March 2014, which ultimately changed to May 2014, then June, and now August of this year. Megan Fox was cast as April O’Neil, while William Fichtner was cast as a white Shredder. The production has seen a lot of ups and downs throughout the years — mostly downs — but there is still a lot of excitement and anticipation surrounding the remake.
There are no official plot details available for TMNT at this point, but it seems likely that it will feature the Turtles, Splinter, and the Shredder’s origin stories. It was recently revealed that fan-favorite Casey Jones might not be featured in the new movie, and that April O’Neil may not have a love interest at all. According to TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, the new movie will be a mix between The Avengers and The Raid: Redemption.
The reboot stars Megan Fox, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Fichtner as the whitewashed Shredder. Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec (Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol) wrote the script, while Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) directed the remake.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits theaters everywhere on August 8, 2014.
