I know… I know… “Where’s Turtle Soup #2!?” but I have a plea to make (one that I’ve made over… and over… and over again), and since the Turtles are in new hands (yeah, I know they’ve been in those “new hands” since 2009), and lately big news has come out of those new owners, I thought why not float this out there anew.
Viacom, dear sweet Viacom,
We the Turtle Fans (who until recently were called “Sewer Heads;” thanks for discontinuing that by the way), have stuck with the franchise through thick (the Mirage Comics and Fred Wolf eras), and thin (the Coming out of Their Shells and Next Mutation “dark ages”), and one thing we’ve never been given is a multi-disc special edition DVD (or now I guess it’d be Blu Ray) release of the feature film debut of our favorite adolescent amphibians (it fits if you use the term very loosely). Sure, there’s the German release, but come on, it’s in German and you have to import it. (Yes, I have… but that’s neither here nor there.)
-The German DVD for the Incredibly Desperate-
You may be thinking, “That wouldn’t be financially sound! Who would buy that?” Well, me. Isn’t that enough? No. Drat, well it was worth a shot. There are many people who would buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Special Edition. Those aforementioned “Shell Raisers” (it’s something being bounced around by the fanbase; it’s still under review) would surly double (or triple, or quadruple,) dip for a really well put together 2-disc release chock full of special goodies. But other people, people who love film may buy a version of the movie that’s more than bare-bones. That, and people who have never bought the thing might be inclined to buy the new and improved release. Well, maybe anyway. You never know. I’m sure the pros outweigh the cons.
“But what do we add to make this ‘greatest of all TMNT movie DVDs’?” you may also ask. And I would respond by saying, “Geeze, if I have to do all the work for you, I expect to be paid.” I then go on to say that there are deleted scenes, including an extended ending that can be used. Things like this. Or this image:
Isaac Elliott-Fisher, of iProductions, has been working on a documentary on the Turtles since before the sell. In researching his project, he says of the deleted scenes, “The fact of the matter is, all the footage exists…” Heck, even if it doesn’t, the documentary in itself would make for at least something for longtime fans of the franchise, and it would certainly help Issac get the film distributed.
So please, Viacom, make this 27-year-old Turtle fan’s day and put out a special edition of one of my all time favorite movies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was made for an estimated $13,500,000. According to boxofficemojo, the film made $25,398,367 IN IT’S OPENING WEEKEND. (That’s almost double it’s budget.) It made a total of $201,965,915 by the end of it’s theatrical run. It is the 23rd highest grossing Super Hero and Comic Book Adaptations movie of all time. It was the 5th highest grossing movie of the year when it was released. #5 behind the likes of (in order) Home Alone, Ghost, Dances with Wolves, and Pretty Woman. That’s steep competition. (The rest of the top 10 you ask? #6: The Hunt for Red October, 7: Total Recall, 8: Die Hard 2, 9: Dick Tracy, and 10: Kindergarten Cop) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even beat the box office of the 3rd Back to the Future flick! It was 5th out of 226 flicks.
“What the heck does Supergirl have to do with this article?” you ask? (Man, you are full of questions.) I figured I’d look at a comic movie that got a 2-disc special edition that I’m sure fewer people have asked for. Supergirl had an estimated budget of $35,000,000 (quite a bit more than Turtles). It made $14,296,438 in it’s whole theatrical run, $5,738,249 of that was in it’s opening weekend. That’s less than half. It cost more than twice as much to make Supergirl than Warner Brothers made off the turkey, yet it has seen at least 4 DVD releases: 1 bare bones release with an audio commentary (which is more than TMNT got… in America anyway), 2 extended cuts (with more footage you wish you hadn’t seen), and a 2 disc Limited Edition release. All this for a movie that wasn’t even able to make it’s money back. TMNT did it in spades (Or should I say wheelbarrows? That’s a gardening tool, right?)
So, please, again, Viacom, (is that too many commas?) we can haz Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Special Edition?
