The Transformers franchise has existed for over thirty years and is still going strong. Beginning life as a joint venture between American toy firm Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy, it would become a media franchise that would begin as toys and animated television and continue to grow. Various spin-offs of the animated series would be created over the years such a Beast Wars, Prime and Rescue Bots, dozens of comics series would be launched under Marvel, Dreamwave and IDW, video games popped up and the toys never stopped. The history of the series in it’s many forms is expansive but you follow them here with a breakdown with Ladylucks’ online casino. For the movies, read on.
For any big mass media franchise a movie is inevitable. The first foray of the endless battle between Autobots vs Decepticons on the Silver Screen would be 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie. It was released at the height of the original cartoon’s popularity, however the film would flop at the box office. The film would be significant though for the death of main Autobot hero Optimus Prime and it’s goal to set up latter series of the show.
The live action debut of the Transformers wouldn’t be until 2007. The big budget summer action movie was helmed by Michael Bay and and had Steven Spielberg as executive producer. The film cost $150,000,000 with the main focus being on the special effects necessary to depict giant, transforming alien robots in real life and showcase their large scale battles. The production of the film began in in 2003 when producer Don Murphy planned a movie based on another Hasbro franchise, G.I. Joe, but this was shelved and he moved to Transformers. Spielberg joined in 2004 and various screenplays were written. Bay was reluctant to join the film at first but wanted to work with Spielberg. The film would only gain average reviews but made over £700,000,000 and launched the live-action series.
As of 2016, there are a total of four live-action Transformers movies, with a fifth following in 2017. Bay has stayed on as helmer, proceeding over Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011) and Age of Extinction (2014). Spielberg would not return as a producer after the first movie. The films would undergo various changes, with female lead Megan Fox leaving after the second film and a new protagonist played by Mark Wahlberg taking over from Shia LaBeouf in the latest instalment. Wahlberg will continue to be the protagonist in the upcoming 2017 instalment, Transformers: The Last Knight.
The films have met with mixed reviews to negative criticism. Movie review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes scores Revenge of the Fallen with 19%, over thirty percent less than the previous film. Dark of the Moon scored 35% and Age of Extinction was rated at 18%. Despite negativity, the films has been very successful. Revenge of the Fallen made more than four times its $200,000,000 budget. Dark of the Moon would cost £195,000,000 but make over $1 Billion, with Age of Extinction following a similar trend.
The Transformers series will continue to grow and change, so for more about the franchise, check out Ladylucks’ blog and for the latest news on The Last Knight, stay tuned to the Movie Blog.
