3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Plot: From IMDB: "Aliens invade Earth and inadvertently spawn a quartet of mutated reptile warriors, the Ninja Turtles, who rise up against them to defend the world."
Based on: The comic books of the same name which were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. TMNT later went on to be featured in TV shows, video games, and three feature films. Wait... there was a fourth movie too? Does anyone even remember that one? I grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I had the video games, the movies, the comics, the underwear, the bed sheets. Do today's kids care that much about TMNT? I'm not quite sure, but it does seem like the well must have run dry by now. How many more stories can you create with these characters? Also, look at the people who are involved in this film. You have Michael Bay who's acting as a producer on the film and then there's Johnathan Liebesman who will be directing. Liebesman's previous films are Battle: Los Angeles and Wrath of the Titans. Those aren't exactly the best credentials, but then again, it's not like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would ever attract top notch talent in the first place. What will the tone of this film be though? Part of TMNT's original charm was their sense of humor. There's simply no way you could ever take mutant ninja turtles seriously. Plus, they're teenagers! Can Liebesman, along with the film's writers, keep the film from delving into super-serious mode? There's already a few questionable signs of the direction this movie is heading. The casting of Megan Fox as April O'Neill seems ill-advised enough, but William Fichtner as Shredder is even more of a head-scratcher. I love Fichtner, but Shredder is supposed to be Japanese. What's up with that? Nobody expects to turn a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie into a masterpiece, but the first three were pretty fun movies to watch as a kid. At least, the first one was. It would be very disappointing if they wind up sucking all the fun out of the franchise. Considering Paramount Pictures already has plans for two TMNT sequels, let's hope the filmmakers know what they're doing.
U.S. Release Date: August 8th