If Hollywood has learned anything from the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, it’s the undeniable power of a well-crafted marketing campaign. The Barbenheimer frenzy magnetized multitudes to cinemas across the world, prompting Paramount Pictures to adopt a similar viral marketing strategy for its upcoming animated film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
In 2007, a 10-year-old boy named Jonathan Ware, dressed in zombie makeup, was innocently enjoying the Rose Festival in Portland, Oregon. A curious reporter noticed his “awesome face paint job” and asked his thoughts on the event. Jonathan’s simple response, “I like turtles,” went viral on YouTube and has since garnered over 73 million views.
After 16 years, Paramount Pictures has now revived ‘Zombie Kid’, now all grown up, for a marketing campaign. A reporter (who was fashionably dressed like April O’Neil’s character) recreated the viral video many years later, asking him his opinion of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and his response was just as expected. Fans online have praised the fantastic marketing tactic, applauding the studio’s creativity in leveraging an iconic internet meme.
This, however, is only one of the many marketing campaigns associated with the CG-animated film. Last month, Pizza Hut unveiled an advertising campaign to offer underground deliveries in New York’s City subway station, complete with TMNT-themed pizza boxes. Moreover, Gamefam Studios has partnered with Paramount and Nickelodeon to bring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Roblox.
Paramount Pictures has displayed a great deal of confidence in the film, as the studio has already geared up for a sequel and spin-off TV series. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem marks the seventh installment in the superhero franchise and is the second reboot after 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its 2016 sequel, Out of the Shadows. Though the first film was a financial success for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, the sequel flopped at the box office, leading to the cancellation of plans for a third film.
Netflix’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines director, Jeff Rowe, will helm the film, co-writing the script alongside Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit. The film also features an entirely new cast with multiple A-list actors like Jackie Chan, John Cena, Giancarlo Esposito, Paul Rudd, Ice Cube, Rose Byrne, and Maya Rudolph, among others.
According to early critic reactions, the film is receiving great reviews and is projected to rake in between $27 – $36 million on its opening weekend and $37 – $49 million over its five-day opening.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is set to hit UK theaters on July 31, followed by its US release on August 2.
