Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Timing: 1:33 (93 min)

6.705/10
1934

7.047/10
43305

6.8/10
112000

All about film

Video 10

Photo 226

Actors and characters

Release date

1990-03-30

Country

Hong Kong, United States

Production

New Line Cinema, Orange Sky Golden Harvest, Mirage Studios

Genre

Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family

Budget

$13 500 000

Revenue

$201 965 915

Website

Director

Steve Barron

Actors

Brian Tochi, Josh Pais, Corey Feldman, Robbie Rist, Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, Kevin Clash, David McCharen, David Forman, Martin P. Robinson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Simon Fields, David Chan, Kim Dawson, Graham Cottle, Raymond Chow Man-Wai

Operator

John Fenner

Composer

John Du Prez

Artist

Audition

Lynn Kressel

Editing

Sally Menke, James R. Symons, William D. Gordean
All team (29)

• Judith Hoag was not approached with an offer to reprise her role as April in the sequels to this film because she constantly complained on set about the six-day work week and the abundance of violent scenes in the film.
• To conceal how bulky the turtle costumes actually were, dialogue scenes were filmed at 23 frames per second, so that when played back at the normal speed of 24 frames per second, they would appear sharper. For the same reason, fight scenes were filmed at 22 or 23 frames per second.
• The script originally stated that the boy died from the beating, but objections were raised by the ratings board, and sounds of breathing and lines about the boy recovering were added to the scene at the last moment. In the French version of the film, the boy still dies.
• Initially, director Steve Barron wanted April's jumpsuit to resemble those seen in the early comics and the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series (1987-1996). It was intended that her appearance would be more similar to April's in the cartoon (a yellow jumpsuit and a large cap of red hair, as opposed to a green jumpsuit and chestnut hair). Actress Judith Hoag, who played April, criticized the idea of such a jumpsuit, and it was abandoned. At the beginning of the film, April is shown wearing a yellow cloak (this is a reference to the yellow jumpsuit from the cartoon).
• According to Corey Feldman, he was offered only $1,500 for the voice-over work. Feldman accepted the offer, trusting the producer who told him it was a low-budget independent film that would achieve at least relative success after its release on video cassettes. The film grossed a huge amount of money in theaters.
• Splinter the puppet was operated by three people. Kevin Clash generally controlled the movements, while a second puppeteer remotely controlled the facial expressions, and a third controlled the hand movements.
• The Turtles themselves were created by Jim Henson's workshop in London. They were initially made from fiberglass, then sculpted from clay, and finally made from latex. The entire process took 18 weeks.
• After sketches were completed, some sets were created on the studio grounds. There were some problems with the manholes leading to the Turtles’ lair, as the room had to be built directly under the sets, and water began to seep in from below.
• Some scenes were filmed in New York City among the city’s landmarks – such as Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the Hudson River, but a significant portion of the filming took place on a studio lot in North Carolina, where sets depicting New York rooftops were created. The film’s artists, Ray Forge Smith (1929-2017) and Gary Wissner (1964-2001), spent four months in New York City before filming began, photographing rooftops and other locations. They were also allowed to descend into an abandoned subway branch in Brooklyn, as they were not permitted to enter the city’s sewer system. In addition, they visited a hydraulic tunnel from which enormous diameter pipes emerged.
• At the end of the film, Sam Rockwell's character tells the police they will find evidence in a building on Lairdman Island. This is a reference to the creators of the Turtles – Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.