I hope to see more of them.

Well, those are sequel numbers, so I'd expect more.

gossi | March 25, 23:45 CET

Joss has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles connection? Color me confuzzled.

BrewBunny | March 26, 00:41 CET

The connection isnt Joss, Sarah Michelle Gellar is voicing the character of "April"

Apocalypse | March 26, 00:42 CET

D'oh! Color me an idiot!

BrewBunny | March 26, 00:45 CET

More please.

Madhatter | March 26, 01:33 CET

BrewBunny, I don't see how?

Madhatter | March 26, 01:40 CET

Wow, I'm surprised. Lots of nostalgic twenty-somethings or what?

fortunateizzi | March 26, 03:03 CET

I'm not really surprised. The promotion for this one was all over the place, even in my local grocery store of all places. They have tv monitors at each cash register and when I was on line, a TMNT promo was playing. So likely nostalgic twenty-somethings and little kids.

maje | March 26, 03:20 CET

Nostalgic twenty-something, at your service!

Dan Corson | March 26, 03:59 CET

At the Friday night showing I went to, there were some nostalgic early-thirty-somethings (like my friends and me), but it was mostly kids (and their parents, which kind of doubles the box office). BTW, the movie was a lot of fun.

jam2 | March 26, 04:15 CET

I was both a nostalgic 30-something and someone who brought her kids. So, yeah, it worked for us. My son loved it!!

XanFan32 | March 26, 04:26 CET

Nostalgic twenty-something who just got back from seeing it. Fun movie, lots of good laugh, decent plot, and of course, the turtles were cool. Characters were pretty much spot-on. The animation fights were pretty awesome too. I wish they had made it a little more dark (emotionally, not visually), but I guess they didn't want to lose the kids. I hope they make another one.

foreverwes | March 26, 04:41 CET

Yo DJ, spin that wheel.

Mort | March 26, 05:01 CET

Dare I hold any hope of a return to the intelligence and wit of the original comic satire, rather than the pizza-munching dreck which followed?

napua | March 26, 05:10 CET

[i]I wish they had made it a little more dark (emotionally, not visually), but I guess they didn't want to lose the kids.[/i]

According to an interview they probably cursed the rating more than once, even some comments how LotR and other big movies could get away with a lot more violence and still get a box office friendly rating. Also a comment about hoping to make the next one R rated (which I doubt will ever happen as long as studios are running the show).

Trienco | March 26, 05:31 CET

Yeah, but who would win in a *fight*: Grecian warriors (cavemen) or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (astronauts (... they're genetically mutated, cut me a break))?

[ edited by Arabchick on 2007-03-26 06:08 ]

Arabchick | March 26, 06:08 CET

napua said:

"Dare I hold any hope of a return to the intelligence and wit of the original comic satire, rather than the pizza-munching dreck which followed?"

I haven't had a chance to read the original comic, but even with a critical eye having seen the first season (a 5-episode origin arc) of the first cartoon again recently, it's not complete dreck in my opinion. There's some good, fun, non-clunky dialogue, a godsend where goofy kid-aimed cartoons are concerned. Some really fun and sometimes epic sci-fi plots that kinda recall classic sci-fi movie cheese but often are spoofish riffs on them. And the animation was real nice sometimes too (though it devolved horribly later on. Compare Season 1 to Season 10, episodes of which are included as bonuses on the Season 1 DVD).

The 2003 Turtles series, the two seasons I saw of it at least, was great. Likely not as dark (although they got away with an on-screen beheading on a Fox Saturday morning cartoon) or witty as the original comic book, but the turtles weren't pizza-munching goofballs either (the worst thing about the original cartoon was that Raph had no balls and no edge).

[ edited by Kris on 2007-03-26 08:55 ]

Kris | March 26, 08:55 CET

BEing someone who's read the original turtle comics and been a fan of all the other TMNT related media, i can tell you this is far closer to the original books in terms of tone than anything else. The movie takes on a "sci fi" tone as far as the plot goes (remembering the first 7 or so books of the comic deal with the turtles being teleported to other planets and fighting giant triceratops looking alients), but the real drama is that between the turtles themselves. Especially Raph and Leo. There is some really cheesy dialogue that is thrown in for the kids, but there is also some really cute goofball humor that you'd expect out of someone like Michelangelo.

Overall, a solid Turtle outing that will probably garner a sequel. It's opened to almost as much as the first TMNT did back in 1991, which is pretty impressive considering that they're not in forefront of the pop culture eye like they once were.

PS - TMNT creator Peter Laird has a large collection of coats, some of which are brown, if you get my drift :-)

[ edited by BetterInRed on 2007-03-26 11:36 ]

BetterInRed | March 26, 11:35 CET

Thanks for the hope, BetterInRed. And Kris, I guess I should downgrade my 'dreck' sneer to "guilty pleasure", as I confess I couldn't peel my eyes away, despite my reaction to how they had evolved for the mass merchandising market.

napua | March 26, 14:44 CET

That's awesome! I saw this movie over the weekend, and it was indeed fantastic. I'm hoping we get more sequels. :)

Veloxi | March 26, 17:45 CET

As an aformentioned nostalgic twenty-something TMNT fanatic, I say there is no freaking way that movie deserves to beat the awesomeness that is 300.

Still, I'm crazy excited that this movie was even made. And then we have Transformers coming up as well. It's like 80's (or maybe 90's) kid heaven. Now we just need a Zbots or G.I. Joes movie.

RaisedByMongrels | March 26, 18:21 CET

Oh I agree. I wish they'd remake Pirates of Darkwater or Voltron.

Anyway, haven't seen the film though the bosses at WB were pleased with its performance at the box office. I'm sure there will be more films to follow.

leiasky | March 26, 18:25 CET

I went to see TMNT with a fellow Whedon freako Saturday. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. My friend is a huge fan of the TMNT comics and stated that this movie was much closer to the original idea of the Turtles then the series or previous movies. I thought the animation was beautiful and the film itself was much better then I expected. Oh, and I almost busted a gut laughing at the "Black Betty" scene.

[ edited by Charmuse on 2007-03-26 22:04 ]

Charmuse | March 26, 18:48 CET

"Still, I'm crazy excited that this movie was even made. And then we have Transformers coming up as well. It's like 80's (or maybe 90's) kid heaven. Now we just need a Zbots or G.I. Joes movie."

Dare I ask for live action He-man movie? Or how about a Thundercats movie? Thundercats, Ho!!

Ill just be quiet now...

jerryst3161 | March 26, 19:46 CET

This must be SMG's first successful movie enterprise in a long while.

Chirp | March 26, 20:17 CET

They're making a G.I. Joe movie, last I heard.

eddy | March 26, 20:22 CET

Well, if we are talking in terms of box office gross, these are the (worldwide) figures for her previous five films:

Happily N’Ever After: $16.5 million
The Return: $9.7 million
The Grudge 2: $69.7 million
The Grudge: $187.3 million
Scooby Doo 2 – Monsters Unleashed: $181.4 million

Her last couple of films, one of which was an animated kids feature, did not take a lot of money, although was anyone really expecting them to? ‘The Return’ might have done a little bit better if the marketing hadn’t given the erroneous impression that it’s a horror film, but it probably wouldn’t have made a lot of difference. Personally, I really like the film, but it wasn't well reviewed.

Were we to make a comparison between these five films and the last five films of her contemporary Reese Witherspoon, Gellar actually has a marginally better record, although clearly Witherspoon is a much bigger star and box office receipts have no bearing on quality.

TMNT has got off to a good start. It has a relatively low production budget for an animated feature (something in the region of £35 million) and it will make a tidy profit. However, realistically, this is not because of Gellar, although her presence will have pulled in a few extra people.

I think it is unlikely the various Gellar films awaiting release (three definite releases this year, plus 'Southland Tales') will make a huge impact at the box office, but they all have small production budgets and there looks to be at least a couple of interesting ones in there.

alien lanes | March 26, 21:03 CET

I've got a roommate who desperately wants to see this to revive his nostalgia for the heady early 90s, when turtles reigned supreme.

themayor | March 26, 21:24 CET

Nice run down dashboardprophet. I'm just happy that Sarah is continuing her career on the big screen. Visual or voice. I'll take it.

cheryl | March 27, 04:23 CET

"Dare I ask for live action He-man movie? Or how about a Thundercats movie? Thundercats, Ho!!

Ill just be quiet now...
jerryst3161 | March 26, 19:46 CET "

As far as I know, there is a He Man flick in the works.

BetterInRed | March 27, 18:15 CET

Didn't they do He-man already? Called Masters of the Universe?

leiasky | March 27, 19:44 CET

Another nostalgic twenty-something reporting for duty!

It doesn't come out here (Australia) until April 5, but I'll definitely be seeing it. :)

VirtualWolf | March 28, 11:36 CET