10 Films That Risk Being 2014's Biggest Box Office Failures

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The first live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie for over 20 years is a strange beast. A co-production between the family-friendly Nickelodeon Movies and Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, known primarily for R-rated horror remakes, the upcoming reboot has faced a barrage of criticism. From the casting of Megan Fox as April O'Neil and the awesome William Fichtner as a Westernized Shredder, to leaked scripts and rumors of wholesale changes to the characters' origins, there has been little positivity surrounding the project. The news that the Turtles themselves would be created with motion-capture is encouraging. Because as loveable as they are, the prosthetics from the original trilogy have not aged well given the advances in technology over the last two decades. Less encouraging is the fact that the project currently has no less than six credited writers, and director Jonathan Liebesman is best-known for the thoroughly tedious movies Battle: Los Angeles and Wrath of the Titans. Despite the enduring popularity of the Turtles amongst the fans, it also remains to be seen how relevant the characters are to modern day audiences. Opening a week after Guardians of the Galaxy on August 8, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theoretically faces no real competition at the box office during August, apart from Marvel's ambitious space saga. However, the demographic that grew up with the original movies will potentially be swayed by The Expendables 3 and Sin City 2 over the next couple of weeks, and of course we can't forget that Platinum Dunes are hardly renowned for high-quality cinematic output. Given the talent involved, its looking increasingly likely that the latest iteration of the Turtles faces an uphill struggle for box office success.