Stephen Spielberg and Michael Bay once decided to team together and create an action franchise based on the Transformers toy series. Spielberg acted as a producer with Bay behind the camera. That spark (or is that all-spark?) of an idea transformed (sorry, not sorry) into a film franchise that is still going strong with a new film coming out next year. The Transformers film franchise has had a few bumps along the road but success has always been knocking on their door with different actors coming and going, and now we’re in reboot mode with the latest entry reinvigorating the franchise.
So let’s go back to 2007 when the first film came out and launched Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox to mega-stardom, the Transformers went from a children’s toy to an action blockbuster overnight. Autobots' and Deception's fought for power in the middle of Chicago at the climax of the film. Two sequels later though the battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron took them to the sands of Egypt and even to the Moon and back. On the downside though later films started prioritising action over character, and even though they made big money at the box office the critics were less than keen.
Then in 2014, we were introduced to a new character, Cade Yeager played by Mark Wahlberg, who lead the fourth and fifth films in the series. Subtitled Age of Extinction and The Last Knight, the series started to explore more of the mythology surrounding robotic organisms. Again the critics were harsh with the films and audiences started losing interest even with big names like Anthony Hopkins and Kelsey Grammer playing some shady characters. The series became less about character and more about setting up a series of stories, a bit similar to Marvel. Michael Bay, who had directed all five films up to that point, began to lose interest too and the series was put on ice.
That didn’t last long as filmmaker Travis Knight went back to basics to create Bumblebee, a prequel based on the titular Transformer without a voice. Set in the 1980s, the film had a very Amblin feel to it and a sense of nostalgia. For the first time in the series, the plot focused on the characters over the action and it turned out that Bumblebee was the most critically successful film in the franchise so far. That wasn’t bad for a reboot, considering most fail at capturing the essence of the characters. Bumblebee was a success at the box office too and now we lay waiting for the future of the series.
The Transformers series is now in good hands with another new filmmaker Steven Caple Jr. in charge of leading the next instalment of the rebooted series. Even though Bumblebee dialled back the action, it appears the next film will aim to show new and exciting ways to make the Autobots' and Deceptions clash again, with more types of Transformers joining them too. With rumours of an animated-based Cybertron film and more films set after Rise of the Beasts, the franchise seems to be going from strength to strength again with new characters and locations. This is one film franchise that continues to freshen up and look good while doing it too!
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Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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