TMNT (film)

TMNT (abbreviated from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) is a 2007 animated superhero film written and directed by Kevin Munroe in his feature directorial debut and based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. The first animated film in the franchise, it features the voices of Chris Evans, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mako, Kevin Smith, Patrick Stewart, and Ziyi Zhang with narration by Laurence Fishburne. In the film, after having grown apart following the final defeat of their arch-enemy, the Shredder, the four Turtles — Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo (voiced respectively by James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, Mitchell Whitfield, and Mikey Kelley) — are set to reunite and overcome their faults to save the world from evil ancient creatures.

Development and pre-production for TMNT began in June 2005 at Imagi's Los Angeles facility and the animation was produced in Hong Kong, followed by post-production in Hollywood. Munroe chose to produce the film in CGI animation as opposed to live-action like the prior Turtles films, in an effort to make it easier for audiences to suspend their beliefs. When writing the film, Munroe wanted to divert away from the lighthearted elements of the franchise and put a heavier emphasis on the darker tone of the original comics. The animators that worked on the fight sequences were inspired by Hong Kong action films.

TMNT premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on March 17, 2007, and was released theatrically in the United States on March 23, by Warner Bros. Pictures, released in Hong Kong on March 29 by Golden Scene, and internationally distributed by The Weinstein Company. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was a small commercial success, grossing $95.6 million worldwide against a $34 million production budget. Planned sequels were cancelled after Nickelodeon acquired the franchise in 2009, rebooting the film series with the live-action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2014.