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Trivia: The movie was shot in 1994 but shelved until 1996. Reportedly, this was partially because early test screenings got fantastic audience feedback, and the studio tinkered with throwing a little extra money at the movie and releasing it in theaters. However, they were unable to find a good spot in their release schedule, so it was eventually just released direct-to-video as they had initially intended.

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Trivia: The design of the main arachnid-like "bugs" from "Starship Troopers" is actually a slightly modified version of an earlier unused design for the "Shriekers" from this film. Some of the same effects artists worked on both movies.

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Trivia: In the first movie, Val and Earl talk about being on magazine covers like People and National Geographic. If you look in the background of Earl's home, you can see various magazine covers with Val and Earl on them - looks like they made it.

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Trivia: Early in production, the film was reportedly intended to be a theatrical release as the first film became a huge hit on VHS and on cable. However, when original co-stars Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire were unable to commit for various reasons, the budget was lowered and it became a direct-to-video feature. While this was initially disappointing, it paid off in the long run, as it launched a continuing franchise with a further five sequels and a popular (but short-lived) TV series.

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Trivia: The studio reportedly forced a number of changes during the production, including adding more fantastical elements (such as the Voodoo witch), toning the film down to a PG-13 and adding a child character to try to make it appeal to younger audiences. Director John Landis and star Dan Aykroyd hated these changes and nearly walked off the film, but begrudgingly agreed to remain on board. They both reportedly aren't very fond of the final film.

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Trivia: To make the effects of Audrey II look convincing, the animatronic was usually shot at a lower frame-rate, such as 12 frames per second, and then played back at the standard 24fps. This sped-up the shots and made the animatronic's motions look more fluid and lifelike. In order to compensate, whenever a human actor would be in-shot with Audrey II, they would have to act in "slow motion" in order for their movement to look right at 24fps. (You can kinda tell in a few shots if you look closely).

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Trivia: Corey Feldman voiced Donatello in the first movie, but was not asked back because he was in and out of rehab at the time and the studio wanted to distance the film from him.

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Trivia: The film was meant to reunite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, who had worked together earlier on the popular 2009 rom-com "The Proposal." However, Reynolds was unable to appear in the film for one reason or another, and his part instead went to Channing Tatum.

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Trivia: The movie was originally titled "The Lost City of D," which was believed to be a play on the non-fiction book and biographical movie "The Lost City of Z." However, the movie was simply retitled "The Lost City." While no official reason was given, it's widely believed that "of D" was dropped because in recent years, the letter "D" has been adopted and widely used as a euphemism for the word "d**k," almost exclusively with sexual connotations. (Which in fact is joked about in the movie itself).

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Trivia: There's a common complaint that often in movies, male actors are significantly older than the female actresses who play their love interests... sometimes to the point of it being flat-out creepy. By contrast, "The Lost City" has one of the rare movie romances in which is the female lead is older than the male. Star Sandra Bullock is actually 15 years older than Channing Tatum, who plays her love interest.

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Trivia: Many people have noted that the basic premise of the film is very similar to the classic movie "Romancing the Stone." This fact was not lost on the crew, who threw in a few homages to it. Not the least of which being that the book tour in the film is called "Romancing the Page," and the fact that Brad Pitt is named "Jack" - the same name as one of the protagonists from "Romancing the Stone."

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Trivia: This film somewhat notoriously tones down the dark tone from the first movie and has a brighter, more "cartoonish" vibe. This is because the studio got hundreds of complaints from parents that the first movie was too dark and violent for young children. The studio caved and went out of their way to make the movie brighter and less violent, to the point the turtles barely even use their weapons. While this pleased parents, it greatly upset fans of the first movie.

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Trivia: The comic creators originally tried to push for the studio to not include the Shredder in this film outside of a brief reference, so that way he could make a triumphant (or perhaps nefarious) return in a third film. However, the studio wanted to make the movie closer in tone to the cartoon, where Shredder was a recurring villain, and thus vetoed their suggestion.

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Trivia: Judith Hoag played April in the first movie but was replaced by Paige Turco in the sequels. According to Hoag, the producers never called her about appearing in the sequels, though she believes it may have been her fault. She had a very hard time on the first movie due to the hectic schedule, and also took issue with the costume design and the amount of violence in the film despite it being aimed at children. She believes these creative differences are why she was recast.

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Trivia: Perrey Reeves co-stars as Andy's love-interest De Silva. Coincidentally, one year before this film was released, she was a guest-star on the 90's television show "The Flash," based on the popular DC Comics character. And what was the title of her episode? It was "Child's Play." Just an amusing coincidence. (Albeit the "Flash" episode nothing to do with a killer doll).

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Trivia: After the film's disappointing initial release, it became something of a meme online, with people making funny posts inspired by its poor reception. (Often with the humorous catchphrase "It's Morbin' time!" attached) The studio attempted to capitalize on this by re-releasing the film on 1,000 screens on Friday, June 3, 2022, hoping that it would get a second wind from its online infamy. This tactic backfired spectacularly, with the film only earning a dismal $300,000 over the weekend.

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Trivia: The scene where Tiffany calls Andy was added at the last minute. Originally, they didn't interact at all in the film. However, writer/director Don Mancini read several online posts from fans who were excited about the prospect of the characters meeting. So he quickly wrote a new scene where they could talk to each other over the phone.

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Trivia: Johnny Depp's death was filmed in the same rotating room that Tina's death was filmed in. The room and camera were flipped upside down, so they could drop the fake blood through the bed. However, during filming, the weight of the blood broke the supports and the room to begin to spin wildly, raining the entire crew with blood. The blood then hit some exposed cords, blowing all the lights and repeatedly shocking the blood-soaked crew in total darkness. Thankfully, a second take was not needed.

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Trivia: Jennifer Tilly was reportedly very game for playing herself in the film and had a lot of fun portraying a satirically exaggerated self-conscious/mean/slutty version of herself. In fact, she and writer/director Don Mancini had a little too much fun making the "Jennifer Tilly character" over-the-top... the studio actually had to give them a note telling them to make the character "a little more palatable," because while she was absolutely hilarious... she was also becoming completely unlikeable.

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Trivia: The trailer for the film famously used 50 Cent's song "In Da Club" as Tree's birthday ringtone. However, the song is not present in the final film. Director Christopher Landon confirmed in a 2022 commentary track for the film's 4K release that they originally wanted to use the song in the film, but couldn't afford the rights due to their tight budget. But annoyingly, the adverting budget (which is separate from the film budget) meant they could afford to use it... but only in the trailers.

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