Transformers The Official Trailer #2 Discussion Thread.

[ShadowBoxing]

According to Rogers, who wrote the leaked script, about 50% is changed, if I remember correctly in an older interview.

That is one of those odd numbers thrown out there. 50% of what, the wording of dialogue maybe....but they already said story and plot were "on lockdown" which means no scenes were changed or likely none were added (since the story is a breakdown of the plot).

Apparently is 50% was changed than the other 50% is what showed up in the teaser, in film diaries and in shooting schedules released to the public...because those match "Prime Directive".

They changed it during shooting if that gives you any perspective on how much it changed. That means after they okayed the script, booked the locations, made the props, storyboarded the scenes and got coffee and breakfast for the people involved they started rewriting things. If anything expect better dialogue...they'll probably cut out some of the cornier lines, make the jokes have more punch (as they promised).

X3 apparently changed a bunch too, so did Fantastic Four...to bad those turned out to be gross exaggerations.

It's called damage control, if people don't like the script...they still have to get them comfortable enough to watch the movie or they lose money.

 

[matrix_ghost]

I remember reading somewhere that the budget is 130mil. You've got to give Spielberg credit for consistently using his financial resources wisely. I still can't believe that movies Minority report and War of the Worlds had the budgets of 102mil and 132mil. I also, can't believe X3 had a budget of 210mil. I expected the special effects to be much better. The Last Stand is the worst movie I've seen with a budget over 200million. Fox must have wasted a fortune on marketing that piece of crap.

It's all due to the time factor IMO.
Minority Report was a movie whhere Spielberg really took his time to create the VFX ( if i remember correctly they spend a longer then a year working on the VFX despite them being pretty "simple" VFX).
WOTW also didn't have complex VFX sequences but those VFX needed to be delivered in a very short time , hence the budget increase. I also think the Cruise/Spilerberg paychecks play a role in that budget though i'm not sure on that.

X3 did have lots of complicated VFX shots and a far shorter Post-Pord schedule ( something like 9 months). Believe me when i say that alot of the money had gone to the VFX houses.
I mean the last part of X3 was pretty much WETA doing full on CG sequences. The DBZ-esque fight between Ice Man and Pyro , the bullet time sweep when the city gets destroyed , Wolverine going to against Phoenix , that's all WETA there.

And we still have the sequences with de-aging of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart , the death of Prof X etc.
Just because something doesn't look epic and big doesn't immediatly mean that the money spend on them wasn't justified.

Anyways going back to the original topic.
I do think that Transformers is going to cost more then 150 million. There are very complex VFX sequences . You have different transformers with different parts interacting with the actors.
My guess would be a budget between 180-200 million

 

[cryptic name]

Well, all Transformers were created by the AllSpark, so they're related. Maybe that's what they mean by "brothers".

And no, the phrase "More than meets the eye" only appears three times on the first script.

the script is pretty specific about their being brothers

Spoiler

OPTIMUS- Once, we were brothers. United. Twin sons among the dynasty of Primes. But greed twisted him into a servent of evil, and he turned his armies against us...for their betrayal they bear the name: Decepticons

i actually like that last sentence. but yeah, the brother thing is pretty literal.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

Still doesn't sound literal to me. More like Brothers in Arms.

 

[cryptic name]

Still doesn't sound literal to me. More like Brothers in Arms.

how does twin sons under the dynasty of primes not sound literal?

about later in the script where Ironhide asks if Optimus can bring himself to kill his own brother?

 

[terry78]

It seems to be taken both figuratively and literally They're comrades as well as both being born under the same name...basically the first of their kind, almost. A Cain and Abel type thing.

 

[TigerClaw]

The whole brother angle, If it stays in the script is very interesting. At least in my opinion. But I always wandered about the whole relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron in the cartoons, How they know each other, And why they hate each other's guts.

 

[TNC9852002]

The employees here at my AMC theater seem very excited by the movie. We're trying to make a get-together for an early employee screening in the summer..

-TNC

 

[cryptic name]

The whole brother angle, If it stays in the script is very interesting. At least in my opinion. But I always wandered about the whole relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron in the cartoons, How they know each other, And why they hate each other's guts.

Because for millions of years, Megatron has been trying to enslave and eliminate Prime's kind.

 

[Stringer]

That is one of those odd numbers thrown out there. 50% of what, the wording of dialogue maybe....but they already said story and plot were "on lockdown" which means no scenes were changed or likely none were added (since the story is a breakdown of the plot).

Apparently is 50% was changed than the other 50% is what showed up in the teaser, in film diaries and in shooting schedules released to the public...because those match "Prime Directive".

They changed it during shooting if that gives you any perspective on how much it changed. That means after they okayed the script, booked the locations, made the props, storyboarded the scenes and got coffee and breakfast for the people involved they started rewriting things. If anything expect better dialogue...they'll probably cut out some of the cornier lines, make the jokes have more punch (as they promised).

X3 apparently changed a bunch too, so did Fantastic Four...to bad those turned out to be gross exaggerations.

It's called damage control, if people don't like the script...they still have to get them comfortable enough to watch the movie or they lose money.

Geez such a pessimist.......




Unfortunately with good reason

 

[TigerClaw]

Because for millions of years, Megatron has been trying to enslave and eliminate Prime's kind.

Perhaps, But they never gone deep in there storyline on how they first met. Even though in the cartoons, The Autobots were originally built to do work, While the Decepticons were built strictly for combat. They were created by the Quintessons

 

[Theweepeople]

I do think that Transformers is going to cost more then 150 million. There are very complex VFX sequences . You have different transformers with different parts interacting with the actors.
My guess would be a budget between 180-200 million

Considering that Spielberg has never directed or produced a film with a budget over 140million I doubt that Transformers budget will be anywhere near that range.

 

[CFlash]

Perhaps, But they never gone deep in there storyline on how they first met. Even though in the cartoons, The Autobots were originally built to do work, While the Decepticons were built strictly for combat. They were created by the Quintessons

Beyond that, the Decepticons were technologically superior. All could fly, many could mass shift, etc. So I guess you could say there was "class" sorta struggle going on... with the menial labor Autobots fighting against oppression by the technologically superior Decepticons.

 

[CFlash]

Considering that Spielberg has never directed or produced a film with a budget over 140million I doubt that Transformers budget will be anywhere near that range.

That's interesting. I never even thought of that. I can't conceive how movies like Saving Private Ryan (directed by S) or Men In Black (produced by) took so little $$$ to make. The guy is a genius.

It probably doesn't hurt that he's got his best bud over at ILM (Lucas) ... he probably gets discounts or something.

 

[cryptic name]

Perhaps, But they never gone deep in there storyline on how they first met. Even though in the cartoons, The Autobots were originally built to do work, While the Decepticons were built strictly for combat. They were created by the Quintessons

i think they get into it in some comics. i don't know i guess i like the idea of knowing they have history, but only having a vague idea of what that history is. the brothers, cain and abel thing seems like a cop out almost.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

Considering that Spielberg has never directed or produced a film with a budget over 140million I doubt that Transformers budget will be anywhere near that range.

WOTW was near that range, but he never reached those numbers. Yet.

 

[Retroman]

Trailer is fantastic! After the lame Mars teaser trailer i think they really needed step things up to get people interested and they did.

This movie has the potential to make a lot of money but the summer market is a tough cookie to crack especially with a 'new' franchise.So many (probably too many) big budget flicks are been released in the space of weeks of each other next year.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

The "lame" Mars trailer is in the movie, when they're in the bunker at hoover dam and the General does a show & tell about the 'Formers first sighting.

 

[Theweepeople]

This movie has the potential to make a lot of money but the summer market is a tough cookie to crack especially with a 'new' franchise.So many (probably too many) big budget flicks are been released in the space of weeks of each other next year.

Any new franchise created by the right production crew can be prosperous. POTC1 was released the same week of Terminator 3 and League of Extraodinary Gentlemen and it destroyed both movies financially since it was clearly the best film out of the 3.

 

[Flovent]

Any new franchise created by the right production crew can be prosperous. POTC1 was released the same week of Terminator 3 and League of Extraodinary Gentlemen and it destroyed both movies financially since it was clearly the best film out of the 3.

I still hate that movie. Heh. But for some reason, Dead Man's Chest was great IMO. Random thought.

 

[Arcturus]

I loved the Mars trailer, I fell even in more love with the new trailer.

 

[Dr Lee]

I am considering going to see Rocky just to watch the trailer on the big screen....

 

[CFlash]

I am considering going to see Rocky just to watch the trailer on the big screen....

Rocky is a worthwhile movie even without the trailer.

 

[Theweepeople]

I still can't get over how bad that script review of transformers was. Not every film that Spielberg had involvement with turned into a box office hit. However, he has never directed or produced anything that was pure trash. I hope his friendship with Lucas has not caused the quality of his filmmaking to deteriorate. The last thing I want to see in this film is an annoying character(aka Jar Jar Binks) who serves no purpose to the storyline and utimately ends up lowering the I.Q. of an audience with his or her presence. I have a shred of hope that Steven will keep this from sucking.

It's quite interesting that during the 70s and 80s there were numerous sci-films with good storylines whose failure at the box office could be attributed to poor special effects. In this time period the opposite happens quite frequently. There are plenty of sci-fi movies with great special effects that bomb because of their atrocious storylines. I didn't know it was so difficult for movie companies to find quality writers to write scripts. I was exposed to plenty of quality creative writing students in high school who were more than capable of writing better scripts than over half of the sci-fi stories Hollywood has butchered since the early 90s.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

It's quite interesting that during the 70s and 80s there were numerous sci-films with good storylines whose failure at the box office could be attributed to poor special effects.

Like what? Starcrash, The Humanoid, Metalstorm?