Paramount's big-budget live-action, Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has run into some budgetary obstacles, reports Nikki Finke, with production delayed in order to shave down the film's budget to the reported target of $125 million. This means the heroes on a half shell won't hit screens until five months beyond their initial Christmas 2013 date, moving to May 2014 — if a satisfactory budget is reached, that is. Are the Turtles in trouble?
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The Ninja Turtles Culture War just gets better: "Paramount marketing changed the name. They made the title simple. The characters you all remember are exactly the same, and yes they still act like teenagers. Everything you remember, why you liked the characters, is in the movie. This script is being developed by two very smart writers, with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles. They care VERY MUCH about making this film for the fans. Everyone on this team cares about the fans. Just give them a chance. Jonathan the director, is a major fan of the whole franchise. HE'S NOT GOING TO LET YOU DOWN." [Shoot For the Edit]
After begging and pleading with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan community to please, please not engage in preemptive flame warfare over the rumors and vagaries surrounding the reboot of their beloved franchise, I now recognize the futility of my attempts at diplomacy. This comes after the film's attached director Jonathan Liebesman — also of this week's Wrath of the Titans and last year's eminently regarded (ahem) Battle: Los Angeles — only complicated matters with his comments about the kerfuffle. And then there's the movie's reported name change.
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I don't ask a lot. I don't really ask anything. Absurdities come and go. I roll with what I can and let the rest fade away. We're similar in that regard, aren't we? We won't agree on everything, but we're adults who ultimately respect each others' tastes and accept — resentfully or not — that in this destabilized, hyper-reductive cinematic climate, even such fare as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has a place in our culture. It's big enough for all of us! So with this in mind, and in light of the vicious media sparring currently underway among the TMNT establishment, can we please, please just lay down our nunchucks and let this skirmish go?
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