The four brothers have traded their Jim Henson’s Creature Shop-turtle suits for a sleek, digital CGI look in TMNT. All images courtesy of Imagi Animation Studio/Warner Bros. Pictures.

When Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman first doodled up a funny-animal turtle dressed as a ninja warrior, it's a safe bet they had no idea of the entertainment franchise they were about to unleash on the world. The tongue-in-cheek terrapin evolved into a quartet of heroes who debuted in a 1984 self-published, black-and-white comicbook as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The foursome became a surprise comics phenomenon that led to mega-licensing deals, several cartoon (and one live-action) series, along with three live-action movies. The franchise got its second wind in 2003 with a new Saturday morning 2D cartoon series and is about to return to the big screen with a fully animated CGI version.

You just can't keep a good turtle down.

It might have worked in the 1990s, but actors in turtle suits (even ones designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop) won't cut it in the all-digital 21st century. The new movie, opening March 23, 2007 in the U.S., comes from the Hong Kong-based Imagi Studios. The film is being distributed in North America by Warner Bros. and overseas by the Weinstein Co. As with 2D animation, budget-driven producers and distributors are searching outside the U.S. for lower cost CGI -- and what they're finding is looking better all the time.

Paul Wang, a producer on TMNT found it easy to work with Hong Kong-based Imagi Animation Studio on the feature. In fact, he has since joined the company as an exec.

"Everyone is wired in Hong Kong with broadband, everyone has cell phones you'll see a year from now," observes Paul Wang, who finally has a few moments to relax after producing (with Thomas K. Gray and H. Galen Walker) TMNT, the latest chapter in the Turtles' adventures and their first theatrical feature since their third film in 1993. "They have latest fashions as far as technology goes. When I'm over there I see stuff I've never seen before -- now they're advertising real time cell phone video delivery at 30 frames per second. Hong Kong is a hi-tech city. They've been heavily influenced by Japanese anime and western blockbusters. They get both things and you see that reflected in their own cinema and the sensibility of the people there."

Wang's CGI experience dates back to 1995 and Pacific Data Images (now PDI/DreamWorks), where he did effects for movies like The Peacemaker and The Arrival before leaving hands-on work behind to become the lighting supervisor on Antz.

Imagi got its start in 2000, producing CGI TV series like Zentrix and a direct-to-video feature based on the Digimon franchise. The studio always had its eye on the prize, though: theatrical feature animation, beginning with the Ninja Turtles.

Wang joined Imagi's TMNT team in 2005, while director Kevin Munroe was still working on the film's script. Gray, the producer of the Turtles' three previous features, had convinced their co-creator Peter Laird to go to the well one more time and Imagi, formed in 2000 was ready to play with the big boys. Towards that end, they had opened up a creative development office and production facility in the Los Angeles area, the better to tap into the local talent market and pitch to the studios in town.

Wang didn’t just want to revive the Turtles franchise, but to push CG animation to another level. Above, Leonardo squares off for a fight.

"The whole point was not just to revive the Turtles franchise, but to push CG animation to another level," Wang recalls. "In 2006 six furry animal movies were released; we thought it was time to do something more edgy, dark -- basically a live-action movie.

"We didn't have the rights to the characters yet [in early 2005]," Wang recalls, but with all parties on the same page and a signed agreement a formality, the L.A. studio began staffing up, ultimately employing some 70 people. As with most U.S. TV animation, character and concept design, creation of a story reel, etc. took place in L.A. The studio created the bare bones CGI cinematography, which was ultimately sent to Hong Kong for full animation by its staff of 300. High-speed Internet data transfers shipping problems and their attendant time delays a thing of the past.

By the end of 2005 things were ramping up, with Hong Kong doing its own pre-production and producing CGI assets for the film. "Two-thousand-six was the really the year of Hong Kong Imagi production. Here in the States, Kevin and (production designer) Simon Murton [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I, Robot] were approving thing and giving notes, along with a few artists guiding that effort. We did the last bits of post the end of February: mostly audio cues, tweaking some of the dialog and trimming a few shots."