If there’s any cash to be squeezed out of any recognizable IP, then you can be damn sure that Hollywood is going to try and milk it for all that it’s worth. A terrifying case in point is the mere existence of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which saw one franchise killed and another potentially reborn in an instant.
In spite of its hulking titular quartet being strangely terrifying even though they were the stars of a family-friendly blockbuster, the opening installment hoovered up a hefty $493 million at the box office, cementing the live-action adventures of the fan favorite characters as a freshly-minted moneymaker.
However, takings fell off a cliff when Out of the Shadows rolled around a mere 22 months later, dropping by almost a quarter of a billion dollars to a disastrous $245 million. Just like that, the three-film deals everyone had signed weren’t worth the paper they were written on, with yet another reboot announced instead last summer with Colin and Casey Jost on scripting duties.
In short, what we have in Out of the Shadows is the sequel to the reboot of a comic book adaptation that spawned a beloved animated series and a multimedia empire, one that’s in the midst of being rebooted again on both fronts with Seth Rogen’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem arriving next summer. Do we need that much TMNT content? Probably not, but we don’t have a choice.
As if by magic, though, the failed sequel has emerged from the sewers of irrelevance on streaming, with FlixPatrol revealing Out of the Shadows to be a Top 10 success on Prime Video in multiple countries. For those who don’t think the Turtles have been adapted heavily enough, you’re in luck. Everyone else? Not so much.