How come this was an independent production and not made by a big studio?

Made by Jim Henson and released by the people who did Nightmare on Elm Street...I wouldn't put much stock into it somehow technically being an independent movie because it's far far from it.

I believe back in the late 80s studios didn't think a cartoon could be adapted into a live action movie... even though Batman had been a success the prior year... Masters Of The Universe and the recent Superman IV were total bombs.

Masters of The Universe sold like 400 million in toys... the movie didn't gross like more than 20 million at the box office.

Things didn't really change until about a decade later... with X-Men, Spider-Man, etc

Stuff like that.

As someone who grew up in that time. The cartoon was semi-popular when it aired.

But it wasn't until this movie that the turtles EXPLODED. After this movie came out the popularity of the cartoon and toys exploded as well