I can’t even begin to tell you how much I respect this quote from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star Megan Fox, which she gave during the film’s press conference, which also included co-star Will Arnett, director Jonathan Liebesman and several of the film’s writers and producers.
A question was asked of the panel as to how they felt about some of the online backlash the film received throughout production concerning not only the casting of Fox as April O’Neil, but the appearance of the turtles in general. Fox didn’t mince words as she was the first to respond:
“Let me tell you something about those people. How much money did Transformers 4 make? Exactly. Those people can complain — they all go to the theater. They’re gonna love it — and if they don’t love it, they can fuck off, and that’s the end of that.”
Turtles producer Michael Bay gave a similar, yet less colorful response when asked by MTV about online negativity when it came to Transformers: Age of Extinction, “They love to hate and I don’t care; let them hate. They’re still going to see the movie! I think it’s good to get a little tension. Very good. I used to get bothered by it, but I think it’s good to get the dialogue going. It makes me think, and it keeps me on my toes, so it’s good.”
As Fox points out, negativity or not, Age of Extinction was huge at the box office, surpassing $1 billion worldwide this past weekend. However, Turtles isn’t exactly tracking for the same $100 million opening. In fact, early numbers peg TMNT at $40 million as it faces serious competition in the form of Guardians of the Galaxy, which just opened to $94 million and will be vying for the #1 spot for a second weekend in a row.
Is Fox’s response the one the studio wanted to have out there? No, but they also didn’t want people to associate their poster for the film with 9/11. So what can you do? At least it gets people talking about the movie, something I haven’t heard anyone doing unless you remind them it’s actually hitting theaters and early reviews aren’t suggesting we’re in store for a winner.
Now here’s a poster with the only pull quote the studio needs.
