TMNT: Ninja Turtles 1990 Movie Writer Talks Studying Star Wars for Influence
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1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-screenwriter Bobby Herbeck has revealed how the battle sequences in the original Star Wars trilogy influenced the movie.
“I studied Star Wars, because I noticed that there was a template to the confrontations, the battles. [George] Lucas is so brilliant,” Herbeck said in an interview with CBR during WonderCon. “Every battle scene in Star Wars had a theme. It wasn’t, ‘Jeez, we need to have a fight in this movie now.’ The writing led up to the confrontation. A different theme, if we may. And that’s what I did with [the Ninja Turtles movie].”
Herbeck continued by detailing how he approached the action scenes in TMNT with an emphasis on the build-up to the action as opposed to throwing the sequences together randomly. “If you ever look at [the Star Wars original trilogy], you’ll see,” Herbeck said. “You know, George wouldn’t go, ‘Okay we need a fight now, we’re 15 minutes without it.’ No. There was always something that led up in the writing to it. The set-up. The confrontation. Something happens, then you have the conflict, and then the showdown.”
Directed by Steve Barron, the 1990 Ninja Turtles live-action movie by New Line Cinema combined the original Mirage Studios series and the highly successful 1987 animated series to make a grounded but fun action-adventure epic. Despite mixed reviews from critics, audiences flocked to see Ninja Turtles on the big screen, making it the highest-grossing independent film at the time with $202 million worldwide on a $13.5 million budget. Two profitable but less successful sequels followed in 1991 and 1993.
TMNT’s cinematic future
The Turtles franchise remains stronger than ever with the success of Paramount‘s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in 2023. A sequel is already in the works with the original crew and is scheduled for release on October 9, 2026. Additionally, the studio announced plans to make an R-rated, live-action adaptation of IDW‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin. Former DC Films executive Walter Hamada will produce the project with Tyler Burton Smith (Boy Kills World) penning the script.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is available to stream on Paramount+.
