First trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and new info on the film!

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Yesterday, I received a surprise birthday gift from Paramount Pictures. The evening before I opened up an e-mail asking if I’d like to attend a preview of the new trailer for TMNT, or if you’d prefer, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, and I gladly accepted. The following day, with only a small handful of journalists on board to get this first glimpse, we gathered inside the impressive Paramount Theatre where screenwriter Andre Nemec (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL) gave a quick introduction and would later give us some new information about the film in a Q & A after the trailer. Then, we witnessed what looks to be a massive adventure of ninja-fighting, pizza-loving turtles, which you can witness for yourself below…

Take a look:

Here’s the synopsis:

The city needs heroes. Darkness has settled over New York City as Shredder and his evil Foot Clan have an iron grip on everything from the police to the politicians. The future is grim until four unlikely outcast brothers rise from the sewers and discover their destiny as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles must work with fearless reporter April and her wise-cracking cameraman Vern Fenwick to save the city and unravel Shredder’s diabolical plan.

While the film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman (BATTLE LOS ANGELES, WRATH OF THE TITANS), there is more than just a hint of Michael Bay. From the slow-motion action shots and explosions, to the destruction of the city, they are certainly going for a larger than life popcorn flick. My first thought as we watched the crime ridden city was that there is more than a little influence from the original TRANSFORMERS-inspired anarchy going on. It is big and bold, with a definite sense of fun, and yes, I am pretty excited to see Megan Fox as April O’Neil and William Fichtner as Shredder. In the end there is a whole lot of tease in this trailer, and I’m curious to see more. Personally, I dug the scene in the end where O’Neil comes face to face with the Turtles. That mask bit made me smile.

After the preview we had the chance to sit and chat with Nemec to discuss the new film. Here’s the highlights from the Q & A, which may help shed some light on some of your burning questions about this new adaptation.

On the biggest influence of creating the turtles:

“The cannon of the turtles always seems to be, or always harkens back to at its basic bits a story about family, and a story about friendship, story of humor and of brothers. And ultimately when you look at all the different stories whether it’s the [Peter] Laird comic or the cartoon now or the one from the late Eighties, it always comes back down to a story about brothers. That really was the most driving principle for us was making sure that that component was the central component of the movie.”

On the main influence of the personality of the turtles:

“They’ve all been really consistent over the years… They are four individuals that are individual alone but combine the four of them they make one person which is always interesting to watch as they do their decision making.”

On Megan Fox‘s April O’Neil:

“The April that you’re going to see is the April you know… We always wanted to be true to who the characters were at their most boiled down version within the cannon. We weren’t slavish to the cannon but there are certain elements that make up who the turtles are. I think you will pleased with the April that you see.”

On William Fichtner‘s The Shredder:

“The shredder, you will be pleased as well, he’s definitely interesting but he’s not a guy with cheese graders on his arms.”

On creating the right tone and just how “dark” they wanted to go:

“Tone was a very interesting question on this movie, on how dark we really wanted to go. [It is] real in the conflict between the characters, that was ultimately the driving principle. Color palettes that were chosen were not designed to be DARK KNIGHT-ish. We weren’t looking to make that movie. I’m a huge fan of that movie but I wasn’t eating gobs of popcorn while watching it.”

On how much Michael Bay influenced the film:

“He has been giving his notes and paying attention as we went through. There is a Michael Bay aesthetic; he has a very good sense of action, a very good sense of entertainment. On those influences you will feel Michael Bay‘s hand in it.”

On the “alien” and origin story rumors:

“You gotta own your own version of what the stories are, looking through the different iterations of turtles to date. Many of them have different origin stories… For us, it was important to find our own version of who these particular turtles were going to be so they could stand alone as their own characters… We thought it important to create our own origin that lives within the balance of it.”

On any TMNT “Easter Eggs” in the film:

“We kept it pretty self-contained, there are some things in there that if you’re paying attention, there are some moments in there.”

So, now that you’ve seen the trailer, what do you think? Did this sell it for you or are you still going to need a little more convincing? Let us know below!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES kicks into theaters on August 8, 2014.