This page contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions when readers interact with or purchase items through these links. For more information, see our affiliate disclosures here.
There are two ways to measure a film's success these days. We have how much it made, which directly correlated to the public's interest in a film. And we have how profitable it is, which helps predict the direction of further movies in a franchise (or the likelihood of similar movies being made). Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1 made A LOT more money than the Bumblebee movie (100 Million more) BUT it also cost a lot more. So while public interest in the Mission Impossible franchise may be higher than the Transformers franchise, Paramount made a nicer profit on the Bumblebee film.
I lay all that out so that you understand how significant the lower budget for Transformers One is. Deadline has published that the budget is a very modest $75 Million. That is by far the lowest production budget ever for a Transformers movie distributed by Paramount. And that's before accounting for any inflation.
This means that it will take a lot less tickets sales to render the film profitable. If this low cost does indeed lead to a high profit, this could be the future of the franchise, theatrically speaking. We will keep an eye out on the gross of the film in the weeks to come and keep you in the know.
You can now put the Gi Joe X Transformers film in the development hell category. While it had some momentum with Chris Hemsworth joining the project and a writer attached, the departure of Caple Jr as director has brought the plans back to square one. We know this from a recent interview with Lorenzo di Bonaventura who is spearheading this film's development.
This interview is from Screen rant who he said this to:
Live-action we are going to deliver a G.I. Joe crossover. I hesitate using the word crossover because I think people think different things about what that means. For me, what it means is the Joes are going to be in the Transformers world and be present. I think every movie is sort of a balancing act of "How much do you have this? And in this movie, how funny can we be? How serious? How do you cross that line? How do you hide the villain?" All those sort of balancing things that you're doing. We're still in the early process, in a way, of trying to figure out the balance.
Sounds like they only have the concept of a plan as of now. While this is more of a nothing burger story, what we can gather from this is that the film is nowhere close to being filmed as they don't even have any major plot details hashed out for it yet. So anyone looking forward to this film should be very very patient.
Blokees are cute, easy and affordable licensed model kits of Transformers characters, you can check out the video below if you want more info on what they are. Blokees has revealed on Twitter 3 new kits coming out in their Transformers One wave. They are Ironhide, Hound and a new troop character called Death Tracker which is based on the vehicons from Transformers Prime. We saw them in the trailers and now we know their official name. Slight spoiler, but the reason they are not "Steeve" this time around is because that name is given to someone else in the film (and no, Jack Black does not make a cameo appearance).
Here is their message:
Blokees Transformers New Reveal!
In GV05, fan-favorites Ironhide, Hound, and DeathTracker return to Cybertron for an epic adventure.
Don’t miss the new wave, launching September 20
It is fun to note that since Blokees models do not transform, using these to release characters that do not have a T Cog in the film, like Ironhide and Prowl works on a thematic level too.
Well Transformers One was finally seen by a slew of fans this week-end thanks to early screenings and here is our review for the film.
It is very tough to assess if this is the best Transformers film. We have the 86 film which was literally as G1 as it can get, if you want to go by a purist standpoint. We have Bumblebee, which was a very well made film on a smaller scale and we had the 2007 Michael Bay film which did an amazing job at showing the potential of the Transformers franchise on the big screen, focusing on scale and spectacle.
Now we have Transformers One which gives us "EVERTHING" (said in the style of Gary Oldman from Leon The Professional). So does that make it the best film? Maybe the best Transformers film? Well definitely the MOST Transformers film.
If people wanted a whole film that was like the beginning of the Bumblebee movie, this is not far from it. The art style is a bit different, but aside from that your wishes come true. And it's even more brutal and violent than that Bumblebee opening. You know what, I'll say this: Transformers One is as brutal and violent as any Michael Bay film. The big difference here though is that those responsible for the brutality are the villains and not Optimus Prime.
Overall, the second trailer gives you a good idea of what is to be expected in the film, with a progression of D-16 and Orion Pax starting as miners and then ending up "evolving" twice in the film to finally end up as Megatron and Optimus Prime. And that is both a positive and a negative.
Positive-wise, it means the film accomplishes its mission of telling an origin story for not just these characters but for their factions too within just one hour and a half. Negative-wise, it means a lot of story beats are rushed. Optimus goes from a guy who doesn't really respect the rules to the Optimus Prime we know in a few days while Megatron also goes through a significant change in parallel. So take that as you wish. I personally would have wanted more time spent on this, but I also recognize how efficient the story telling is to convey all this in a short movie for all ages.
The conflict at hand was presented in a new way and is probably the best aspect of the movie. The writers found a very clever way for Orion Pax' and D-16's views and outlooks on their world to be completely changed and it's in how they react to these revelations that we see how they go on different paths, which are familiar to any Transformers fans. It's almost maddening how this "kids film" is more mature, lore heavy, and has more depth than any of the live action films.
I mention Orion Pax and D-16 a lot because the movie really does revolve around them. Bumblebee and Elita are more one dimensional but to be faire though, we've never had two compelling character arcs in a Transformers movie ever. And while less main, Bumblebee and Elita are a fine addition to the mix. Believe it or not, Bumblebee's more humoristic personality is explained as a product of his environment and the "Badassitron" line actually has a payoff. Generally, I didn't care for the humour but it didn't take away any enjoyment of the film for me; you could easily move on from what didn't land. I also want to mention Jon Hamm's Sentinel Prime who was an excellent version of the character and the bot that surprised me most. Oh and Steve Buscemi as Starscream worked well, even though he doesn't change his voice much.
In terms of animation, this is peak Transformers. I really loved seeing the characters use their alt modes as part of their fighting styles and specific moves, like converting just some parts to use them offensively and then converting back. As a longtime Transformers fan, this was a beauty to behold.
Speaking more about the plot and characters would dive into spoiler territory so I will end the review here by saying that this is a great Transformers film, probably the best, and I encourage all Transformers fans to give it a watch.
It gets 4 golden Rodimus stickers out of 5. While great overall there were some story beats that were too rushed for me, especially in the third act, and I felt that did take away some enjoyment.
Today is Hasbro Pulse Con and they're running a special giveaway for Pulse Premium members in the US and UK. Hasbro is offering prizes for several of their brands, but Transformers fans will be able take a chance on winning a HasLab Unicron, a Transformers 86 Movie script signed by the cast, a Studio Series Transformers One Deluxe Optimus Prime and a Pulse Con exclusive Legacy United Dinoking!
Excited for a chance at the long coveted Unicron or maybe a rare signed Movie script? Let us know in the Seibertron Energon Pub forums and good luck!
The embargo has lifted on Transformers One, which is very early and a great sign of confidence in the film. Several critics have posted their opinions online and Rotten Tomatoes is aggregating them on their website. IGN seems to be the most negative in a sea of positive reviews. The score sits at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing with 36 reviews.
As we showed yesterday, the marketing for Transformers One is firing on all cylinders. Below you will see:
- a clip from the film featuring the scene on the train as the four main bots reach the surface.
- a TV spot featuring the fight between Optimus and Megatron and some really high praise
- a general ad for the film showcasing the upcoming Studio Series figures for the film and pro football players like Calvin Johnson/Megatron.
- a quick featurette showing the voice acting, which can be seen here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vhg9JOjB6/
One of the most famous skits from Key and Peele is the substitute teacher, which we have linked below. Knowing that, Keegan-Michael Key has done a bit where he does the same thing with the Transformers characters from Transformers One. You can check it out below.
We are weeks away from the Transformers One coming out and the marketing is in full force.
Bryan Tyree Henry was promoting the film on Jimmy Kimmel the other day, you can check out the clip below.
Speaking of clips, we have another one for you below. It's from world famous chocolatier, Amaury Guichon, who Paramount teamed up with to commission a giant chocolate head of Optimus Prime. It even has LEDs for eyes.
You'll notice that the backdrop for that clip happens to be the newly released theme song for the film. You can check the full song out below as well, it is performed by Quavo, Ty Dolla $ign, and ARE WE DREAMING.
The next round of collector-centered pre-orders have gone live on Amazon and everywhere else in Japan. Interestingly all of them are being tagged as part of T-SPARK.
The first is the highly anticipated MPG-14 Godbomber who will be available in two different flavors. The first that we had seen previously is the retail version that will be available everywhere. The second is a special Takara Tomy Mall exclusive MPG-14S that includes everything from the retail version plus extra parts to make Godbomber and God Ginrai look like the original prototype, as well as God Ginrai's sword. That set comes in an extra large box that can also store the Super Ginrai box inside similar to the MPG-6S Kaen box that could hold all 6 Trainbots. This set will likely be available on Hasbro Pulse soon.
Next up is Karakuri Statue Optimus Prime, the self transforming statue first revealed at the beginning of the year. Not much has changed in the statue itself, but the base got an overhaul making it more ornate and adding gold for contrast to the middle rotating part.
Finally we've got the Dramatic Capture Triple Takeover set. This set puts new decos on Siege Astrotrain, Legacy Evolution Blitzwing and SS86 Starscream. Starscream includes his coronation gear, but no throne this time. Even more noticeable is Astrotrain's lack of launch pad/tender.
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.
![[Valid RSS]](/images/rss/valid-rss.png "Validate Seibertron.com's RSS feed"){kind=small}
