Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rises from the sewers in first official trailer

The Heroes in a Half-Shell are back, and this time, they're bigger, bulkier, and a bit more dressed up.

The first official trailer for the 2014 reboot of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film franchise has been uploaded on the CBMTrailers YouTube channel. The trailer was first shown to a closed audience of theater owners on March 24, at the annual CinemaCon held in Las Vegas.
 

Underground origins, otherworldly ideas

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began their road to stardom as the protagonists of a 1984 black-and-white comic published by two creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, under the banner of Mirage Comics. Eventually, the franchise transformed from a small independent effort into one of the biggest worldwide hits of all time, spawning numerous animated series, colored comic books from different publishers, toys, games, and other merchandise, and four films (three live-action movies from 1990-1993 and an entirely CGI feature in 2007).

The new Ninja Turtles movie, a mix of CGI and live action, which will be produced by Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes and Nickelodeon Movies, has been shrouded in mystery and controversy ever since it was first announced.

Perhaps the most hotly-debated aspect of the new film is the Turtles' revamped look. Even before the trailer went live, promotional materials already depicted Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael wearing makeshift armor and civilian clothes—a major departure from their traditional get-up (colored bandanas, sashes, and signature weapons) which had previously remained fairly consistent across various comic book, television, and movie interpretations.

Additionally, early rumors of drastic modifications to the Turtles' comic book origins were reinforced by a leaked script for a film proposal entitled “The Blue Door,” which reimagined the Turtles, Splinter, and the Shredder as aliens and radically changed characterizations for some key players in the film. The revelation was quickly shot down by Paramount Pictures (the distributor of the upcoming film), and Bay himself confirmed that the leaked script was written—and junked—way before Platinum Dunes was involved with the project.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” stars Megan Fox as April O'Neil, Pete Ploszek as Leonardo, Noel Fisher as Michelangelo, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, Danny Woodburn as Master Splinter, William Fichtner as the Shredder, Will Arnett as Vernon Fenwick, and Whoopi Goldberg as Bernadette Thompson. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman and scripted by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, the fabulous foursome will make their latest leap from the sewers (or perhaps from space, though fans are hoping otherwise) to the silver screen on August 8, 2014. — TJD, GMA News