We all love a classic, as Disney is well aware with its continued efforts to try to peddle more and more nostalgia in order to increase its profits. In the case of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle though, the franchise is alive and well as it has reportedly already earned a whopping $1 billion this year alone.
Thanks to the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the franchise has seen a reinvigoration in interest for its four shelled martial arts practitioners. The film, which came out on Aug. 2, is already nearing the $100 million mark at the box office, which is a great showing considering that Barbie and Oppenheimer have been dominating the theatres since their release last month. Featuring the voices of Jackie Chan, Paul Rudd, and Rose Byrne with the young talents of Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Brady Noon (Raphael), the film has rebooted the franchise and finally cast real teenagers in the titular roles.
The reboot has brought a breath of fresh air into the franchise, and this would seem to be reflected in its profits as sales from global merchandising help push the brand towards the $1 billion mark (per Deadline), for 2023 alone. This is a great win for Paramount, having bought the rights to the IP back in 2009 and setting about turning the merchandise from collectibles to mass-produced products, with the current film merchandise having over 400 licensees including Playmates, Hasbro, Mattel, Crayola, and Funko all popping up in stores across the globe.
It isn’t just merchandise that has helped rake in the money, but also brand partnerships such as Pizza Hut and Xbox. The former isn’t a stretch to think about, nor slip into the movie, given the turtle’s love for a good pizza, allowing the marketing for the film to be spread through the chain’s numerous restaurants worldwide. Xbox also opted to stick with the pizza theme, creating its first-ever pizza-themed controller to celebrate the film’s release.
With such broad and constant marketing being utilized, it’s no surprise that sales for the franchise’s merchandise has been excellent and that the film is performing respectably. In the U.S. and in Canada alone, experts predict that the film will pull in $110 million at the box office. With a sequel and spin-off already confirmed, the franchise will continue to keep growing and hopefully pull in the dough for Paramount.
If you feel like adding to that figure and seeing the reboot of the classic franchise, then you can catch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in theatres now.