TMNT: What Roger Corman’s First Turtles Movie Would Have Looked Like
B-movie king Roger Corman once pitched a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie starring a bunch of comedians; here’s the pitch, explained. Created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started out as a satire of gritty, '80s comic books before becoming a family-friendly franchise thanks to a hit Saturday morning cartoon. Naturally, a string of movies followed – with TMNT reaching peak popularity in the early '90s - before floundering in recent years. Had it been successful, a pitch from low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman in the '80s might have sunk the franchise before it even began, but could have become something of a cult classic in the modern era.
The co-founder of New World Pictures, Roger Corman is rightfully regarded as a pioneer of independent cinema and has been involved in over 400 film productions since the early 1950s. While known for schlocky genre movies (which rarely get the critical recognition they deserve), Corman has long championed new and emerging talents. He mentored future titans of the industry such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and James Cameron, while also giving many actors (including Jack Nicholson) their big break. TMNT’s outlandish concept (four turtles mutate in a sewer and, under the tutelage of a wizened, old rat, grow up to become teenage ninjas) fits naturally within Corman’s wheelhouse, with his proposed pitch cranking the absurdity up even further.
According to The Ringer, Corman’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would have featured comedians Billy Crystal, Gallagher, Bobcat Goldthwait, and Sam Kinison as the “heroes in a half-shell”. While the '90s TMNT movies are often praised for their Jim Henson-created turtle suits, Corman’s version would have taken a more low-tech approach - painting the comedians green and strapping shells to their backs. Additionally, none of the comedians involved were anywhere close to being teenagers, so the film’s title would have been nonsensical at best.
Ultimately, Corman’s pitch was odd and probably wouldn’t have worked, but would likely have gained something of a cult status in the meme-age. Sadly (or thankfully), Billy Crystal fans would have to wait a number of years to see their favorite comedian in green – voicing Mike Wazowski in Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. – while Bobcat Goldthwait would go on to voice Jet the Turtle in Rusty: A Dog’s Tale. Gallagher and the late Sam Kinison have become controversial figures in recent times, criticized for their somewhat bigoted routines and outdated points of view. Though Corman’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was never produced, it did result in a clever April Fools prank from the TMNT movies fansite in 2017 that no-doubt tricked a few readers before the absurdity of Corman’s pitch truly sunk in.
A live-action TMNT movie finally hit cinema screens in 1990, becoming one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time. Two sequels were also produced – The Secret of the Ooze and Turtles in Time – but these didn’t do as well, critically or financially, as the first movie. While the Turtles would continue to perform well on television in various animated and live-action shows, their next feature film wasn’t released until 2007 (the animated TMNT), before a live-action, Michael Bay-produced reboot in 2014. While Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did receive a sequel (Out of the Shadows), both movies underperformed at the box-office, and Paramount is set to be rebooting the franchise, yet again, with another animated feature, reportedly helmed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
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