The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer raised plenty of questions for fans. Despite some slapstick humor toward the end, director Jonathan Liebesman and producer Michael Bay's take on the Turtles appears to be darker in tone than previous films.

Speaking with ComingSoon, screenwriter Andrew Nemec weighed in on the subject of just how dark the new Turtles movie will get.

"Tone was a very interesting question on this movie as far as how dark we really wanted to go," he said. "It's really all in the conflict between the characters. That was the driving principle. The color palettes that were chosen were not designed to be Dark Knight-ish in that regard. We weren't looking to make that movie. I'm a huge fan of that movie, but I didn't eat gobs of popcorn while I was watching that movie. We certainly didn't want kids to be running for the exits. 'Mommy! Why did he do that?!' We weren't looking for that."

"We really wanted to entertain and have fun with it," he continued. "I think we skate — we live — on a very fun line in this movie, whether it's the action feeling real and exciting, but also fun and adventurous. It really never feels dark in a way that would startle you out of your chair or make you fearful."

Read the full interview for much more on Nemec's Ninja Turtles plans. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits theaters on Aug. 8.