Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles[a] is a 1990 martial arts superhero film, based on the fictional superhero team of the same name. It is the first theatrical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. The film follows the turtles on a quest to save their master, Splinter, with their new allies, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, from The Shredder and his Foot Clan. Directed by Steve Barron, it stars Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, and the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Corey Feldman, and Josh Pais. The film is an adaptation of the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, with several elements taken from the animated series airing at the time. The turtle costumes were developed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, one of Henson's last projects before his death shortly after the premiere. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became the highest-grossing independent film up to that time[7] (surpassed in 1999 by The Blair Witch Project), the ninth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1990, and the highest-grossing film in the series until the 2014 reboot. It was followed by three sequels, one of which is animated in CGI animation.