Despite facing a backlash of near-Ghostbusters proportions when it was first announced, the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot proved to be a solid hit around the globe, earning close to $500 million worldwide back in 2014. With those kinds of numbers, a sequel was inevitable and sure enough it arrived this year, although Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows failed to replicate the success of its predecessor, grossing half the box office with $245.6 million worldwide.
Speaking to Collider, producer Andrew Form has reflected on the disappointing returns for Out of the Shadows, stating that they were happy with how the movie turned out, and aren’t quite sure why it failed to find an audience.
“We were obviously surprised at the box office results. We loved the movie,” said Form. “We loved making the movie. From our first Super Bowl teaser to everything we launched, we felt so good about our material, and for some reason it did not find the audience that the first movie found. And we talk about it all the time, and we tried to figure it out, but we cannot put our finger on what happened. We really can’t. It’s just one of those things where we feel like we made a really great movie; we thought at the time that our release date was great, and we added all these new characters with Bebop and Rocksteady and Baxter Stockwell had a big role in the movie and Casey Jones and for some reason when it came to opening weekend… Even before the movie came out, we were feeling great. And you wake up two days before the movie opens and you go, ‘Wow, I don’t know if this movie is tracking as well as it should.’ Then you hope, and then Thursday night happens and your midnights come in and you’re like, ‘That’s not what Movie 1 did,’ and then sure enough your weekend comes and it’s nowhere near what anyone thought, and it’s nowhere near Movie 1, and, before you know it, it’s over.”
“We’re still so proud of the movie; it just didn’t find an audience,” he continued. “We really don’t know why… I think one thing we did learn is you really need to give—you can’t just add characters to a movie and expect that to be what’s fresh. It’s a sequel. You have to give the audience something that’s really new and fresh. Maybe just adding characters from the canon, that wasn’t enough… We set out to make a poppy, colorful, fun, add all these fun characters that people had grown up with—and like you said, bring the cartoon to life, and we feel like [director] Dave Green executed that perfectly and made a great movie, so what we set out for, we feel like we accomplished. It just didn’t find an audience.”
And as for the future of the franchise following the underperformance of the second movie, Form stated that: “I don’t think there’s Turtles 3, but I wouldn’t say there’s never going to be another Turtles movie.”
What did you make of Out of the Shadows, and are you disappointed that it seems we won’t be getting a third movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael return to battle bigger, badder villains, alongside April O’Neil (Megan Fox), Vern Fenwick (Will Arnett), and a newcomer: the hockey-masked vigilante Casey Jones (Stephen Amell). After supervillain Shredder escapes custody, he joins forces with mad scientist Baxter Stockman (Tyler Perry) and two dimwitted henchmen, Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams) and Rocksteady (WWE Superstar Stephen “Sheamus” Farrelly), to unleash a diabolical plan to take over the world. As the Turtles prepare to take on Shredder and his new crew, they find themselves facing an even greater evil with similar intentions: the notorious Krang.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is once again produced by Michael Bay, with David Green (Earth to Echo) directing. Megan Fox (April O’Neill), Will Arnett (Vernon Fenwick), William Fichtner (Eric Sacks), Alan Ritchson (Raphael), Jeremy Howard (Donatello), Pete Ploszek (Leonardo) and Noel Fisher (Michelangelo) all return to the cast, while new additions include Stephen Amell (Arrow) as Casey Jones, Tyler Perry (Gone Girl) as Baxter Stockman, Brian Tee (The Wolverine) as The Shredder, Gary Anthony Williams (Boston Legal) as Bebop, WWE’s Sheamus as Rocksteady and Brad Garrett (Finding Nemo) as Krang.
Originally published October 31, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
