It’s been almost a year since Paramount’s long-in-pre-production Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot got writers in the form of M:I4 scribes Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec. But the production may have finally found itself a director.
That director is Jonathan Liebesman, the fellow currently finishing off production on massive fantasy sequel Wrath Of The Titans. He’s now in negotiations to helm the live-action TMNT reboot.
Which gives us some idea of what Paramount will be going for with the new half-shell heroes – namely massive action scenes and expensive special effects, both of which Liebesman has proved proficient with both in Wrath (as far as we can tell) and Battle: Los Angeles.
The previous TMNT films were never massive on extravagant action, though the fight scenes were integral to their storytelling. This new movie, though, has Michael Bay as a producer, which would explain the new 'bang for your buck' agenda.
Still, taking our heroes to the next level could provide the kind of popcorn entertainment recent summers have been sorely lacking. Let’s see how this one plays out…
Wrath Of The Titans opens in the UK on 30 March 2012.
Source: Variety
Think Liebesman's the man for the job? Or got another director in mind? Give us a shout below...
Comments
TheKingofCinema
Feb 15th 2012, 9:02
Awesome news. I think director Jonathan Liebesman did a great job on Darkness Falls and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and I really cant wait to see what he brings to Wrath of the Titans. so I think it will be interesting to his new take on the TMNT's. I loved the original animated series. the original first two films. the TMNT's Adventures magazine which I think started in 1988 and the TMNT's 2: The Arcade Game for the Amiga A600 and TMNT's: Turtles in Time for the SNES. I really hope they somehow introduce the RatKing. Krang, Bebop & Rocksteady, The Stone Soldiers, Dimension X & The Technodrome into Jonathan Liebesman's film. :)
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TheKingofCinema
Feb 15th 2012, 9:13
I think the story for this reboot of TMNT should start off & keep cutting back & fourth on the origin of emperor Krang on the planet Dimension X which will explain how he became the evil brained creature & the of course a more realistic back story on how the turtles & master splinter became what they were in the first place. The origin story of Emperor Krang will first start off where he is a human & an all mighty emperor of dimension x & while he is sitting on his frown inside the Technodrome a time portal opens up on dimension x & with a great shock on his face he sees General Traag & his stone soldiers come through it & when they get inside the Technodrome by blasting the entrance away they threaten & accuse krang with a crime of treason & they say to him ‘‘if you don’t admit to this crime we will slowly torture you & then kill you by taking out your brain & frow it out into space & we will also dispose of your body by burning it’’ & of course krang doesn’t admit to this crime & Traag & his men kill him, this scene in the film will be quite gory & may be too scary for younger children. While this event is happening up in dimension x meanwhile back on earth human master splinter tries to get his revenge back on the Rat King (not shredder for once) down in the sewer because the rat king killed his family & now has kidnapped his pet rat of course the rat king kills master splinter successfully & quite brutally. Then while the rat king chucks his pet rat on his dead body & then pours big barrels of ooze on to him (which the rat king has kept for 11 years while living down in the sewers) four pet turtles go down in the sewers & land on master splinters body with out the rat kings notice because he has now at this point ran into the darkened sewers in hiding & as the ooze starts to mutated splinter & the turtles, one of the turtles which has now grown quite big starts to crawl on top of splinters body & starts to cry into the night sky, then at this point the theme tune from the animated TV series starts to kick in. In the first of this new rebooted franchise Casey Jones will start out as a self defence teacher at his self defence class which he runs himself, but most of its members don’t like his strict attitude & decide enough is enough & decide to rebel & form there own group known as the ‘‘Foot Clan’’, But later on they bump into the rat king & he decides to become there new master. Later on in this new rebooted trilogy, when Krang get his new body kills General Traag & becomes the new leader of the stone soldiers. In the first of this new rebooted franchise, roving reporter April O’ Neill will be a reporter by day, but by night she’s a stealth styled vigilante, this new take on her will make her look more of a stronger female character in this new reboot then in previous incarnations, later on she will co run the self defence class with Casey Jones. In this new rebooted trilogy the friendship between Michaelangelo & April O’ Neill will be very Platonic which will keep the audience guessing. In the first of this new rebooted franchise, Casey Jones & Master splinter will team up & have amazing epic fight with The Rat King. The new trilogy will feature the original music from the animated TV series & the previous two films. The character of Shredder will not be in any way, shape or form be part of this new franchise, because he has been used so many times before & for that he will no longer be used. This new franchise will have connections related to the TMNT Adventures Comics (1988-95), the film TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) & the video game TMNT: Turtles in Time. This new franchise will be far more darker, brutal & serious then the animated TV series, the three films & comics, Warning: the turtles will draw blood in this new trilogy as they get beaten up. The characters of Bebop & Rocksteady, the fly version of Baxter Stockman, the shark creature ‘‘Armaggon’’, the samurai Rabbit ‘‘Usagi Yogimbo’’, female fox warrior ‘‘Ninjara’’ & the RoadKill Rodneys will be introduced in later instalments. The portrayal of the rat king will be a former soldier of the vietnam war who used to serve along side with general traag & his men before they turned into the stone solders in a nuclear blast which the rat king survived un harmed because he escaped from enemy lines & fled like a coward & left them behind a few minutes before the blast went off & the people who let off the blast was of course the enemy who they were fighting against emperor krang, & human versions of bebop, rocksteady & armaggon who was also effected by the blast accept from krang himself who also fled like a coward & hide inside a bunker & somehow he creates a portal into dimension x & escapes into it just in time before it goes off. The portrayal of Krang when he gets his new body, he will have the same look he did in the animated TV series, (the evil warlord disembodied brain creature) but he wont be a stupid bumbling idiot like in the TV series & he also wont grow bigger neither like in the show, when he gets his new body he will only stand 7ft 2in tall & also in the new reboot he will be able to speak through his new body, he will be very serious, dramatic & powerful. Some time in this new franchise Raphael will decide to go rouge, go it alone & fight the scum off the streets himself, he will also wear his alterative all black ninja costume from the TMNT Adventures comic & he will also bump into April O’ Neill’s alter eco vigilante character which he decides to team up with her to fight the scum off the streets which will only happen at night while the next day when they see each other as there normal self’s they both betide nothing has happened in front of the other turtles & splinter. Raphael & Casey Jones go way back but not as you thought like in the original 1990 film oh no, there story is very different in this franchise, Raphael hates Casey Jones because when Raphael was 17 years old he wanted to join Casey’s self defence class, but he got picked on by the other members of the class for the way he looked & with out Casey’s support or care because he wanted Raphael to learn the hard way & to stand up for himself, so young Raphael decided to quit straight away which he walked out the door & replied by saying ‘‘This Class Sucks Am Outtaa Here’’.
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Hadouken76
Feb 15th 2012, 10:31
They are tortoise not turtles.
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Hadouken76
Feb 15th 2012, 11:13
o wait, my mistake.
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Hadouken76
Feb 15th 2012, 11:19
when will they get round to making M.A.S.K? John Cho would be ace as that truck driver who lifts things.
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writerdave87
Feb 15th 2012, 13:04
I'd love a M.A.S.K film, not really fussed over this tbh but but Battle: LA was awesome and with Bay's backing this could be a decent popcorn flick. Just as long as Dalidab isn't on writing duties.
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blade32
Feb 15th 2012, 13:10
Awesome news. I really hope they keep it as real actors in animatronic suits, and not CGI!!! Animatronics can be awesome. I'm still amazed by how realistic the facial features were in Harry and the Hendersons and that was made 25 years ago. Surely with todays technology they could be spectaular.
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TheKingofCinema
Feb 15th 2012, 13:46
@writerdave87 good shout out on a possible live action M.A.S.K film. I would love to see that. but even better I would love to see a Ulysses 31. Defenders of the Earth. Centurions: Power Extreme. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and BraveStarr even more. :)
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TheKingofCinema
Feb 15th 2012, 13:47
@writerdave87 good shout out on a possible live action M.A.S.K film. I would love to see that. but even better I would love to see a Ulysses 31. Defenders of the Earth. Centurions: Power Extreme. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and a BraveStarr live action films made even more. :)
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SiMan
Feb 15th 2012, 14:02
i agree that they should try and do it as animatronics rather than CGI. Although CGI has improved vastly over the last decade, there is still a level of 'fakeness' to it that can sometimes spoil a film - especially if there is going to be any fighting scenes with live actors. I've been hoping for an updated Turtles film for ages - still think the first film is excellent. I just hope that they don't do a Michael Bay and just blos S*it up for 2 hours. The story should really focus on two key parts 'Teenage' 'Ninja'.......i know the 'Mutant' 'Turtle' part is quite an essential element, but i think the theme of any new film should focus on the fact that they are young, highly-trained ninjas, and the responsibilites that puts on them. Kill off Splinter early on and put them on their own, under attack from the Foot and the police as well.
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alexr
Feb 15th 2012, 15:16
Erm...(whisper) I liked the CGI TMNT movie...
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