‘Transformers’ stumbles to an uncertain future
Franchise looks for a new direction without Michael Bay
About Last Knight: The fifth Transformers movie has failed to transfix American audiences. Transformers: The Last Knight continued to underperform domestically over the July Fourth holiday (finishing with $17 million and $102.1 million total) after launching the weekend before with $44.7 million, the weakest box office opening in franchise history — less than half what Age of
Extinction debuted with in 2014. The studio has pointed to the strong international performance (now at $327.8 million). But the so-so numbers signal that domestic audiences want change.
“Transformer movies have always taken a critical thrashing, with fans giving strong support. That honeymoon is over in North America,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
Filmmakers tried a writers’ room, which resulted in a Last Knight story that wove Transformers lore with Arthurian legend and had Optimus Prime battle fellow hero Autobot Bumblebee.
But bigger changes are in store for because director Michael Bay insists that The Last Knight will be his last Transformers film.
“Michael will, of course, stay involved with the franchise — his ideas will be a part of all this,” says producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “But we’ll be moving forward with a new director for another movie.”
This is a good thing, says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations.
“The key is getting away from Bay. He’s done his job here and made billions,” says Bock. “But it seems like we’re seeing the same thing again and again.”
Production is set to begin this summer on a Transformers spinoff involving Bumblebee, expected in theaters on June 8, 2018. Travis Knight, who helmed the animated film Kubo and the Two
Strings, will bring a new vision. Di Bonaventura promises a more “intimate” story between Bumblebee and a young tomboy played by Hailee Steinfeld. “It’s still going to be a Trans
formers movie in every sense with spectacle,” di Bonaventura says. “But you’ll also recognize it as quite a big departure.”
In a marked tone change, di Bonaventura says he found inspiration for the upcoming Trans
formers in Steinfeld’s 2016 teen drama The Edge of Seventeen.
“That’s the movie ... that we keyed off,” he says. “She’s dynamic and has a range of emotion. We are probably doing more emotion than we have ever done before.”
The writers’ room provided a potential story road for Paramount to expand the universe, with Transformers 7 penciled in for release on June 28, 2019. Fans such as Darryl Laughy (aka Cybertronian Beast, host for TransMissions, a podcast devoted to
Transformers) are hopeful the next film can turn the tide.
“I’m giving Travis Knight the benefit of the doubt,” Laughy says. “I’m looking forward to what he has in store.”