Search form

Ninja Turtles to Go Head-to-Head with Meet the Robinsons

The first 3D-animated TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES feature from The Weinstein Co. and Warner Bros. Pictures will find its way to theaters in North America on March 30, 2007. That means it will go head-to-head with Disneys next 3D-animated feature, MEET THE ROBINSONS, which has just been pushed back from Dec. 15 of this year.

Warner Bros. Pictures will handle domestic distribution and the Weinstein Co. will distribute overseas.

The movie will be directed by Kevin Munroe from his own screenplay, developed in consultation with Turtles co-creator Peter Laird. The film will be produced by Imagi USA president/ceo Thomas K. Gray and Galen Walker. The exec producers are Francis Kao, Laird, Gary Richardson and Frederick U. Fierst. Worldwide merchandising rights for the movie will be exclusively represented by 4Kids Ent. Inc.

The two studios acquired the worldwide movie distribution rights from Imagi Animation Studios, which had obtained the production and distribution rights from the Mirage Group, which owns, nurtures and manages the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. The new 3D-animated, PG-rated movie will derive its tone from the original comicbook series and will be slightly grittier than the previous live-action pictures. The animation will be created in Imagi's state-of-the art facility in Hong Kong.

The TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movie history began in the early 1990s, with three live-action films that grossed a cumulative total of more than $256 million domestically, adding to the entertainment phenomenon that spawned games, toys, costumes and a virtual Turtles industry. In 2003, the TURTLES returned to television after a five-year hiatus, now appearing on Cartoon Network and 4Kids TV on Fox in the U.S. and on major TV channels around the world. Additionally, the entertainment re-launch of the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES has generated hundreds of millions of dollars of worldwide retail sales of new licensed products, including an entirely new range of toys from longtime licensee Playmates Toys.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.

Tags