Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles go digital
There's no "Cowabunga" this time around.
That Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rallying cry and the rapid-fire one-liners have fallen by the wayside as the still-lean, still-green, nunchaku-wielding, pizza-eating terrapins return Friday for their fourth film installment. "We just wanted to present them in a more dignified light and make the movie an homage to the comics that spawned the Turtles," says "TMNT" director Kevin Munroe.
Instead of employing martial arts stuntmen in bulky prosthetics, "TMNT" is rendered completely in CGI. And by drawing on the talents of some 370 animators from two continents, Munroe has created a digital New York City in which talking turtles bounding across rooftops and skateboarding through sewers look perfectly in place.
The new Turtles movie comes hot on the heels of two recent comic-book-based blockbusters, "300" and "Ghost Rider." Whether "TMNT" can replicate such success, however, depends on whether fans still connect with Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael.
By bringing the Turtles back to their roots, Munroe, a self-professed comic-book geek and Turtles fan (he owns the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comic from 1984), hopes to appease the current generation of fans as well as those who grew up reading the comic books.
"The movie is about family," says Munroe, who served double duty as writer. "Leonardo, who has been off training on his own for a year, comes back to a family that has drifted apart and is charged by their father, Master Splinter, with bringing them back together."
Bat-wielding vigilante Casey Jones (voiced by Chris Evans) is back, as is longtime Turtles ally April O'Neil (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Gone, however, is the Turtles' erstwhile nemesis Shredder; in his place is tech industrialist Max Winters (Patrick Stewart).
In addition to the Turtles, the other "star" of the movie is the special effects, the work of upstart Imagi Animation Studios.
The relatively unknown Hong Kong company, whose brief r–sum– includes producing animation for the short-lived DreamWorks TV series "Father of the Pride," seems like an odd choice to rejuvenate the Turtles, a property that has generated $6 billion in revenue worldwide.
But the president and chief executive of its U.S. office is Thomas Gray, who was the linchpin for the first three Turtles movies.
Up until 1998, Gray was head of production for Hong Kong's Golden Harvest, which is best known for producing most of the Jackie Chan films. It was there that he was approached about making a film based on a comic book featuring human-sized talking turtles named after Renaissance artists.
Gray's visceral response: "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of."
At the time, the Turtles, who began life as an obscure independent comic book, were just beginning to break into the mainstream. And after a little coaxing, Gray began to see the upside. "We'll put four of Jackie Chan's stunt guys in suits, make the movie for $3 million and get our money back."
But Gray had a difficult time landing a domestic deal for the movie, whose budget had ballooned to $11 million. "Every studio passed on the film — sometimes twice." Gray finally convinced New Line Cinema to take a chance. The film opened with a $25-million weekend on its way to a final box-office tally of $135 million, making it one of the highest-grossing independent films in history.
Two more movies were rushed to the market, each more expensive and less profitable than its predecessor. By the time the third film was released in 1993 to a gross of just $42 million domestically, it seemed the franchise had run its course.
Fast forward 10 years. After joining Imagi's U.S. studio, Gray was again approached about doing a Turtles movie, this time by Imagi founder Francis Kao.
Although the front end — production design, character design and story-boarding — and the back end of "TMNT were done in the U.S., the long, laborious middle part was produced in Hong Kong.
"We were able to bring the film in at $34 million," Gray said. (By contrast, the budget for Pixar's "Cars," which was created entirely in-house, is estimated at $120 million.)
Another cost-cutting measure involved Imagi's choice of directors: Gray ultimately decided to give 34-year-old Munroe his first shot at directing a feature film.
"They ran out of money, so that got me instead of John Woo," jokes Munroe, referring to early trade reports tying Woo to the Turtles.
Although the movie will certainly appeal to fans watching the current Turtles animated series, the film was definitely made with an eye toward the first generation of Turtles fans, which is why Gray was so surprised when many of the studios that passed on the Turtles the first time around did so again.
Film producer Harvey Weinstein, though, was instantly smitten. "I didn't have any reservations about the movie, none," says Weinstein, who is distributing the movie along with Warner Bros. "It just felt right."
Oscar-losing decision for Academy Awards
The organization that presents the Academy Awards has lost a court battle against an Italian broadcaster over the use of the word Oscar.
A judge in Los Angeles has turned down a suit by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) against RAI International for broadcasting several awards programs, including Oscar del Vino (Wine Oscars) and La Kore — Oscar della Moda (Fashion Oscars ).
The programs are seen in the U.S. through the satellite company EchoStar Communications Corp.
"EchoStar presents evidence that the meaning of Oscar in the Italian-language programs is quite different than the meaning of Oscar in English," wrote Judge Audrey Collins.
"The use of Oscar to describe an award or awards program is arbitrary or fanciful and deserves maximum protection. However, EchoStar has presented evidence showing that the word Oscar could be considered generic in Italy and in the Italian language."
David Quinto, the attorney for AMPAS, argued that the shows are seen by non-Italians in the U.S. and for them Oscar is connected to the Academy Awards.
But in her decision, Collins also noted that the shows highlighted achievement in Italian sectors other than entertainment.
The Academy is still pursuing the case. Quinto told the Hollywood Reporter that AMPAS has requested that EchoStar produce its entire customer list so the Academy can hire experts to gauge whether there is actual confusion over the case.
"The court has simply said on the record before it [that] the evidence was insufficient to grant the motion," said Quinto.
'300' conquers box office for a 2nd week
LOS ANGELES - Spartans continued to fend off the box-office competition as the battle epic "300" took the No. 1 spot for the second-straight weekend with $31.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Warner Bros. movie, the story of vastly outnumbered Spartans defending against Persian invaders, shot past the $100 million mark after just a week in theaters, bringing its total to $127.5 million.
Disney's road comedy "Wild Hogs" also crossed the $100 million mark, remaining the No. 2 movie with $18.8 million to lift its total to $104 million.
Sony's paranormal thriller "Premonition," starring Sandra Bullock as a woman whose husband is killed one day but turns up alive and well the next, debuted in third place with $18 million.
The weekend's two other new wide releases had modest openings. Universal's fright flick "Dead Silence" — the tale of a maniacal ventriloquist dummy, from director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, the team behind the original "Saw" horror hit — debuted at No. 4 with $7.8 million.
Fox Searchlight's "I Think I Love My Wife," a romance starring Chris Rock as a bored hubby drawn to a temptress ( Kerry Washington), premiered in fifth place with $5.7 million. Rock also co-wrote and directed the movie.
In limited release, IFC's Irish historical drama "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" opened solidly over St. Patrick's Day weekend with $75,311 in nine theaters. The top prize winner at last spring's Cannes Film Festival, the movie is directed by Ken Loach and stars Cillian Murphy in the story of two brothers on opposite sides of Ireland's civil war in the 1920s.
Bad weather on the East Coast and the NCAA basketball tournament, combined with traditional partying on St. Patrick's Day, put a bit of a damper on the box office, particularly among young males who are the main audience for "300."
In Boston, with its heavy Irish-American population, crowds for "300" were down 70 percent on St. Patrick's Day compared to the previous Saturday, while the drop in the rest of the country was just 49 percent, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros.
Even so, overall box office rose, with the top-12 movies taking in $102.4 million, up 10.5 percent from the same weekend last year.
Movie attendance this year is up 3.5 percent compared to 2006 admissions, with hits such as "300" and "Wild Hogs" giving Hollywood an early start on what is expected to be a huge summer season. Among summer's blockbuster sequels are "Shrek the Third," "Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and " Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
"`300' and the other late-spring hits have put us in a fantastic position heading into the homestretch leading up to summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "300," $31.2 million.
2. "Wild Hogs," $18.8 million
3. "Premonition," $18 million.
4. "Dead Silence," $7.8 million.
5. "I Think I Love My Wife," $5.7 million.
6. "Bridge to Terabithia," $5.1 million.
7. "Ghost Rider," $4 million.
8. "Zodiac," $3.1 million.
9. "Norbit," $2.7 million.
10. "Music and Lyrics," $2.2 million.