It’s time to admit the harsh truth about Michael Bay’s Transformers movies 7 years after The Last Knight

The harsh truth about Michael Bay’s Transformers Kino is even more clear after the release of Transformers one. From 2007-2017, Bay directed five Transformers movies, the last of which was 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. Since The last nights debut, the franchise released three theatrical movies – Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the BeastsAnd Transformers one. Travis Knight, Steven Caple Jr., and Josh Cooley respectively directed each of the installments.

Bay was a producer for Bumblebee, Rise from the animalsAnd Transformers oneBut was not as involved in the movies as he was in the Transformers stories he directed. Bumblebee And Transformers one Received positive reviews from both critics and general audiences, and were considered a refreshing trend of the franchise in the aftermath of Bay’s direction. Despite the mostly positive reception, The franchise has struggled at the box office since Bay stepped away from the director’s chair.

Michael Bay’s Transformers movies are still the most successful franchise by far

The box office numbers tell a clear story

According to The numbersAll the by-directed Transformers Movies performed much better at the box office than Bumblebee, Rise from the animalsAnd Transformers one. Transformers: Dark of the Moon And Transformers: Age of Extinction Earned more than $1 billion At the worldwide box office, while Bay’s lowest grossing franchise entry, The last nightEarned more than $600 million. Both Bumblebee And Rise from the animals Earn much less than The last nightWith their box office runs in the $400 million range.

Rise from the animals$157.341 million domestic box office total and $61.045 opening weekend debut were better than The last nightS$130.68 domestic box office and $44.68 million opening weekend. These are the only exceptions to Bay’s movies performing better in every other box office category. Except The last night, By S Transformers Movies are much higher than the last installments, whose box office results are a far cry from even Bay’s second-worst performer, TransformersAt $708.272 million worldwide.

Transformers one is still in theaters and the box-office totals aren’t complete yet, but it’s highly unlikely that it will get close to the totals for any of Bay’s movies. The animated prequel had the franchise’s all-time lowest opening weekend debut at $24.613 million, while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen More than quadrupled during its opening weekend. Transformers oneIts critical success has, unfortunately, not translated to its financial performanceEven when taking into account its lower production budget.

Why Transformers has yet to have a major hit outside the Bayverse

The franchise was already struggling before the Bayverse ended

While critics did not like S Transformers Movies, the box office figures prove that many audiences still went to the theater to see his take on the franchise. With its explosive, action-packed narrative that prioritized spectacle, Bay was able to generate mainstream appeal in a franchise previously known for its toys and animated series. Transformers became a big-budget action blockbuster series, and there was consistency in how he approached all the installments he directed.

This worked well for a while, however The observed box office decline between Age of extinction And The last night Shows that audiences are already beginning to feel tired by the Transformers Franchise. Bumblebee took a different approach with his 1980s coming-of-age story, as did Transformers one Being an animated prequel set on Cybertron. These new approaches worked well for critics and audiences who saw them, but were unable to overcome previous franchise fatigue, and may have felt too niche compared to Bay’s more mainstream approach.

Transformers became synonymous with Michael Bay’s movies for too long

He is always known as the director of Transformers

Directing five Transformers Movies over the course of a decade inevitably made By becoming synonymous with the Transformers Sort. This is partly due to the franchise undergoing a significant change between Dark of the moon And Age of extinctionwhich saw Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky and the human characters from the previous three movies replaced by Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager and a new cast of human characters. Bay was at the forefront of this change, which led to the false assumption that he was also at the forefront of major creative changes that happened after H.He last night.

Regardless of how well-received Bumblebee And Transformers one been, The audience didn’t give them that much of a chance, partly due to Bay’s lingering frustration and fatigue Transformers Movies. Bumblebee Releasing only a year and a half later The last night It didn’t help with that either, as it was too soon after Bay’s last movie to revamp the franchise. Since The last nightBay directed the Ryan Reynolds-led 6 underground and the Jake Gyllenhaal-led AmbulanceBut is still primarily associated with Transformers.

Will Transformers ever find the balance between “Bayverse” and a new style?

An upcoming crossover could be the answer

Bumblebee And Rise from the animals provided new and exciting entry points into the franchise, while still retaining certain elements of Bay’s live-action Transformers Movies. Transformers oneOn the other hand, there was a further departure from the Bayverse As an animated and standalone prequel. At this point, it may be better for the franchise to continue building on one or more of these new avenues instead of trying to find another direction.

The GI Joe And Transformers Crossover teased by Rise from the animals‘ End may be the best way to balance the Bayverse with a new style. It will be a live-action story set on Earth and will likely feature some familiar characters, voice actors and visual elements from Bay’s movies, and may incorporate his style driven action-spectacle set pieces. The GI JoE and Transformers Crossover can be grounded in a new narrative and directorial style, While still feeling reminiscent of the pieces that helped make Bay’s Movies become box office hits.

Meanwhile, despite the prequel’s box office woes, a Transformers one Sequel should not be abandoned. Transformers one Was a strong start to a new series Which leaves the door open for many future stories about Cybertron, the Autobots, the Decepticons, and the Quintessons. If the franchise is constantly setting up and abandoning new stories every time there is a box office disappointment, there will be little confidence in any future direction, even if Transformers Could somehow find the perfect way to balance the Bayverse and a new directorial style.

Source: The numbers