TMNT: Ninja Turtles 1990 Movie Writer Talks Studying Star Wars for Influence

1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-screenwriter Bobby Herbeck has revealed how the battle sequences in the original Star Wars trilogy influenced the movie.

“I studied Star Wars, because I noticed that there was a template to the confrontations, the battles. [George] Lucas is so brilliant,” Herbeck said in an interview with CBR during WonderCon. “Every battle scene in Star Wars had a theme. It wasn’t, ‘Jeez, we need to have a fight in this movie now.’ The writing led up to the confrontation. A different theme, if we may. And that’s what I did with [the Ninja Turtles movie].”

Herbeck continued by detailing how he approached the action scenes in TMNT with an emphasis on the build-up to the action as opposed to throwing the sequences together randomly. “If you ever look at [the Star Wars original trilogy], you’ll see,” Herbeck said. “You know, George wouldn’t go, ‘Okay we need a fight now, we’re 15 minutes without it.’ No. There was always something that led up in the writing to it. The set-up. The confrontation. Something happens, then you have the conflict, and then the showdown.”

Directed by Steve Barron , the 1990 Ninja Turtles live-action movie by New Line Cinema combined the original Mirage Studios series and the highly successful 1987 animated series to make a grounded but fun action-adventure epic. Despite mixed reviews from critics, audiences flocked to see Ninja Turtles on the big screen, making it the highest-grossing independent film at the time with $202 million worldwide on a $13.5 million budget. Two profitable but less successful sequels followed in 1991 and 1993.

TMNT’s cinematic future

The Turtles franchise remains stronger than ever with the success of Param o unt ‘s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in 2023. A sequel is already in the works with the original crew and is scheduled for release on October 9, 2026. Additionally, the studio announced plans to make an R-rated, live-action adaptation of IDW ‘s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin . Former DC Films executive Walter Hamada will produce the project with Tyler Burton Smith ( Boy Kills World ) penning the script.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is available to stream on Pa ramount+ .