With a near-perfect 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Paramount Pictures' recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the most positively-reviewed wide theatrical release of the year, besting the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, and Barbie.
The Seth Rogen-produced animated reboot has now passed the $100 million mark worldwide, but it took quite a bit longer to reach this milestone than analysts expected, and despite its relatively modest budget of $70 million, the consensus seems to be that the movie is underperforming.
We know good reviews are never a guarantee of box office success, but it is still surprising that audiences aren't turning up in greater numbers for such an acclaimed take on a well-known, previously very popular property. THR (via Toonado.com) believes the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are at least partially to blame.
Mutant Mayhem boasts an all-star voice cast, including Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen, John Cena, Rose Byrne, Natasia Demetriou, Giancarlo Esposito, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Paul Rudd, and more, but it's felt that the strikes restricting the stars from doing any promotion has hurt the film.
“Not having stars to do publicity for your movies is a huge detriment to the overall campaign,” says one studio exec. “You lose the cultural impact of having talent talk about the film. Some movies wouldn’t have worked anyway, but they had more of a shot.”
A sequel and a spin-off series have already been announced, but if Mutant Mayhem ends up losing the studio a significant amount of money (unlikely, but possible), plans could change very quickly.
If you're interested in my thoughts on Mutant Mayhem, along with the six other theatrically-released TMNT movies, check out the latest episode of the Roll Credits podcast below.
“After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.”
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon will voice the roles of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, respectively. The cast also includes Jackie Chan as Splinter, Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.