Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe opted to avoid the franchise’s most iconic theme song to prevent alienating audiences.
Rowe broke down his reasoning during an interview with SlashFilm, noting that the inclusion of the music made popular by the original cartoon series would only have been appreciated by some fans and not general moviegoers. “It works for a certain crowd, and it works for a certain era of nostalgia for this franchise, and it’s exciting on opening weekend. But then, hopefully, this film is remembered longer than that,” Rowe said. The filmmaker elaborated that the addition of references to the past can result in a movie becoming unnecessarily dated by only appealing to a single demographic of fans.
“When you put those things in, it dates it, and I think robs it of being its own iteration, which was really important for us to make this just stand on its own feet and be a fresh reintroduction of these characters,” Rowe concluded. “So the temptation was there, but I always squirmed away from it.”
Shredder Takes a Seat
Not using the classic theme song isn’t the only major franchise staple Rowe opted to exclude. The director previously admitted that the villainous Shredder was meant to feature in Mutant Mayhem but he was ultimately cut to improve the movie’s narrative. Fans need not worry though as Rowe has confirmed the leader of the Foot Clan will plague the Turtles in the future.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is the franchise’s latest reimagining as it brings the Heroes in a Half-Shell into the modern era. The film’s unique animation style and heartfelt writing earned it plenty of praise from both critics and fans, with Paramount announcing plans to develop a sequel shortly after its premiere.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now playing in theaters.
