Written by on Aug 8, 2014. Posted in On Location

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles filming boosts New York with $55m spend

A reboot of action franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has helped boost New York’s production industry with direct spending of more than USD55 million. The new film shot for over 70 days in New York City and spent USD30 million on local crew wages.

“Major motion pictures require locations that are as diverse and imaginative as the content of the stories themselves,” said Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, which provided the spending figures.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles displays New York’s top qualities and the local economies reaped the benefits. Governor Cuomo and New York’s lawmakers’ leadership in offering a competitive production tax incentive continues to enable high-yielding results.”

Advanced motion-capture technology was used to create the turtles and the film marks the first live-action version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story in 20 years. A computer-animated feature was released in 2007.

New York is one of the top production centres in the US and this year overtook Los Angeles for the first time as the most popular city in North America for drama TV pilots. The city has also attracted several high-profile superhero projects. In 2013, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 became the biggest-ever feature to film entirely in New York and Marvel has chosen New York so shoot a series of superhero TV dramas centred on comic series The Defenders.

The city has also hosted filming for TV drama Gotham, telling the story of the early career of James Gordon before he becomes a key aide to Batman.