Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Trivia | 70 facts about the film

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is a new animated film based on the famous comic-book characters.

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a 2023 American computer-animated superhero film
2. It is directed by Jeff Rowe
3. From a screenplay he co-wrote with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit
4. It is the seventh theatrical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film
5. It marks a reboot of the series
6. The film stars the voices of Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon as the titular team
7. Alongside a supporting ensemble voice cast that includes Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Rogen, Paul Rudd, and Maya Rudolph
8. In the film, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtles set out to be accepted as normal teenagers through acts of heroism
9. The brothers go on a hunt for a mysterious crime syndicate
10. But trouble arises when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them
11. Nickelodeon announced Mutant Mayhem in June 2020, with Rogen, Goldberg, and James Weaver producing under their Point Grey Pictures banner, and Rowe as director
12. Kyler Spears joined as co-director soon after
13. The animation was provided by Mikros Animation in Montreal and Paris and Cinesite in Vancouver
14. It was primarily influenced by school notebook sketches
15. Seeking to explore the teenage aspect of the Turtles, the filmmakers drew inspiration from teenage coming-of-age films
16. The majority of the cast was announced in March 2023
17. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the musical score
18. Mutant Mayhem was screened as a work-in-progress at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 12, 2023
19. It was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on August 2, 2023
20. It received positive reviews
21. With praise for its vocal performances, script and stylized animation
22. Several critics named it the best Turtles film
23. A sequel and spin-off television series for Paramount+ are both in development
24. Following Ramsey Naito’s appointment at Nickelodeon in 2018, she and Brian Robbins discussed who to bring onto the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise
25. Seth Rogen was decided upon, and Jeff Rowe joined the project soon after
26. In June 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Nickelodeon Animation Studio was developing a computer-animated Turtles film for Paramount Pictures
27. Marking Nickelodeon Animation’s first CG-animated theatrical production
28. Rowe was hired to direct, from a screenplay from Brendan O’Brien. Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and James Weaver produced through their production company, Point Grey Pictures
29. Naito and Josh Fagen oversaw production for Nickelodeon and Point Grey, respectively
30. In an August 2020 interview with Collider, Rogen said that the film would heavily lean into the teenage element of Turtles
31. In June 2021, Rogen revealed a teaser image through his Twitter page, which contained school notes written by Leonardo, the film’s original release date, and other details
32. By October 2021, the film was under the working title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Chapter
33. The title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem had been finalized by August 2022
34. Kyler Spears joined the film as co-director, signing on because he had worked with Rowe on his prior film, The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
35. J.J. Villard, creator of King Star King for Adult Swim, was commissioned to design the film’s logo
36. The film was animated by Mikros Animation in Montreal and Paris, and Cinesite in Vancouver
37. According to executive producer Ramsay McBean, there were about 120 artists working on the film across both Mikros and Cinesite
38. Like with his previous outing, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Rowe wanted Mutant Mayhem to look different from what was expected from an animated film
39. The director’s aim was to make it heavily resemble the concept art
40. He was inspired by sketches he made in school notebooks as a teenager and how they tend to have a lot of exaggerated features, spikes, and random effects lines, and wanted the film’s animation to reflect a similar feeling
41. Rowe described the film’s sketch look as its “North Star”, as the comic book-inspired look was for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
42. Kassai found working out the sketchy and unfinished style of the film one of the most difficult parts of the production
43. He and Rowe encouraged the artists to embrace their imperfections and draw like teenagers
44. Kassai cited the 1987 television series, the original film series, and the classic toyline as big inspirations for the production team
45. He also cited Chungking Express (1994) as a heavy influence on the film’s visuals. Since a lot of the film takes place at night, the artists spent a lot of time diversifying what New York looks like at night and giving it a variety of different color schemes
46. For the action scenes, the filmmakers studied Jackie Chan films such as Police Story (1985) and Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
47. Rowe and lead character designer Woodrow White pushed for less bulky versions of the Turtles and to have the main four sport more teenage builds
48. Similar to Michelangelo and his braces, Donatello was given glasses not as a defining trait of geekiness and wisdom but rather as one of adolescence
49. With Splinter, White wanted to lean into the dad aspect of the character and have him look “disheveled” ”from the stresses of parenthood”
50. As a ninja master, Splinter wears a kataginu he cut from a bathrobe, which also reflects the DIY nature of the character
51. Additionally, White gave him sweatpants, which he described as “a common staple of stay-at-home parents”
52. Jeff Bridges “Dude” character from The Big Lebowski (1998) served as inspiration for Splinters fashion, while his build was inspired by Danny DeVito
53. White also studied photos of actual rats when designing the character
54. White didn’t want to make Leatherhead look too muscular, but rather very much like what an actual alligator would look like if it stood on two legs
55. He collaborated with Kassai when designing Genghis Frog and based the character’s look on that of a pixie frog
56. Rocksteady was given a larger head to emphasize the character’s horn, which White felt was a rhinoceros’s defining feature
57. With Ray Fillet, he wanted to give the character a more “menacing edge” and ”inject more manta ray” into him
58. Similarily, White wanted Wingnut to be more bat-like than previous versions of the character by keeping her wings on her arms
59. In the United States and Canada, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is projected to gross $30 – 40 million from 3,851 theaters over its first five days of release
60. The film made $10.2 million on its first day
61. These include $3.85 million from Tuesday night previews
62. The film made $4.87 million on its second day
63. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 96% rating
64. Based on 161 critics’ reviews
65. With an average rating of 7.6/10
66. The website’s consensus reads: “With its unique visual style and a story that captures the essence of the franchise’s appeal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an animated treat for the whole family”
67. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100
68. Based on 43 critics
69. Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
70. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale