Sequels Transformers Cinematic Universe Cancelled

[TheVileOne]

How do you do that though? The franchise has written itself into a corner with bad characters and bad continuity and stories. The movies are no longer profitable. Each movie is making less and less domestically. These films used to be critic proof, but not anymore.

Case in point, the last Transformers movie made only $130 million domestic. The first one in 2007 made $320 million. So in 10 years, they've declined almost $200 million. There's no growth.

And the movies keep costing more. The last one cost $217 million budget. And that's probably another $150 million for marketing and distribution.

 

[Chris B]

As long as its a complete reboot, then this is welcome news to me. I enjoyed the first three TF films despite their various of flaws, but they really haven't aged well for me at all. AOE was a step in the well direction in certain respects for me but I hated TLK. Ultimately, the franchise has been only a poor shadow of what it could've been.

He's struggled with his recent films, but I actually wouldn't mind seeing Neill Blomkamp take a stab at this. At the very least, I hope they get a director that can handle science fiction and is not just someone who just sees the property as nothing more than a showcase for explosions. I also would want them to keep Peter Cullen as Optimus of course, and while I know they brought him back for TLK, really give Frank Welker a chance to shine as Megatron.

 

[terry78]

I don't know what was keeping them from bringing on Unicron aside from just wanting to drag the series out.

 

[TheVileOne]

Unicron should've been the fifth movie if that's what they wanted. But it seems like they held off because they were probably hoping for some giant Infinity War type of thing. Then Last Knight essentially tanked.

OK, let me just put forth this sample video I found on YouTube. I'm not saying a reboot has to look like this. Why what is wrong with this aesthetic or art style for the bots? Why can't they look or work this way? I'm not saying it has to look like G1, but already what this artist came up with looks infinitely better than the movie garbage we've been served up for the last 10 years.

[YT]go3GzRXxYhI[/YT]

 

[Grootster]

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/02/18/john-warden-comments-transformers-movie-franchise-future-359410

This whole situation is getting confusing. It's beginning to sound like Hasbro's not cancelling the Bayverse, but just putting it on hold for a while (probably until after they see how well the Bumblebee movie does). If that's the case, I think it's the right decision.

 

[Jochimus]

At this point I suspect one of two things is going to happen:
A) 'Bee will flop and they'll do a complete reboot, or
B) 'Bee will be a hit and they'll use that as their reboot, just ignore the other movies outright and start a new continuity stemming from 'Bee's movie...y'know, the whole "requel" thing.

You'll note that Hasbro didn't specifically retract the initial Investor Day story, especially since it'd been out there for at least a whole day before Warden's comment (also, according to a report posted by one of the fans over at TFW2005 Hasbro's stock apparently went up after that initial story was posted). So I think Hasbro's ready to seriously change gears on the TF film franchise no matter what decisions get made.

 

[TheVileOne]

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/02/18/john-warden-comments-transformers-movie-franchise-future-359410

This whole situation is getting confusing. It's beginning to sound like Hasbro's not cancelling the Bayverse, but just putting it on hold for a while (probably until after they see how well the Bumblebee movie does). If that's the case, I think it's the right decision.

From TFW:

Update 1: Quoting what Bleeding Cool stated, fellow Transformers fansite TFU.INFO updated their Twitter feed with the following:

“Shocking that @bleedingcool got it wrong. Nice story with no attribution of the quote or context. Nothing I have from the Transformers interview session even comes close to this quote. #FryIsShocked”

Update 2: Again, thanks to TFU.INFO, we now have the exact quote from John Warden/Ben Montano. We wrote it down word-to-word; exactly as it was stated.

“Question: The recent announcement regarding the changes for the movies, changes for toyline plans, cancellation of the series?

Answer: The points that Brian made about the reboot of the film franchise after Bumblebee? For sure, our team is working closely with Paramount and Machinima regarding the next chapter and the product lines associated with that. No decision is made independently from film partners, so we are part of this conversation on what’s next and when should we deliver the next thing. Our attention right now is to focus on Bumblebee [The Movie]. I think the film has come along great. We’ve seen a lot of footage, cuts, takes. Toyline looks fantastic. I think there is a lot of directions we could take, post that. There are toy concepts we are working on. Nothing stops us. You guys saw downstairs, right? We have Cyberverse cranking. That’s coming out soon. We have Studio Series, we have Bumblebee film toyline, for Generations a new trilogy announced. Any shifts, we have to deal with it. Either pause or just charge head-on. This is one where we are going to collectively pause, sow for what’s the next best story is and then put a toyline around that. In no way that it distracts us.“

Bleeding Cool lied or exaggerated a story or got it wrong?!

[YT]N4vIBijzg4w[/YT]

This too.

https://twitter.com/TFU_INFO/status/965227147316129793

 

[Ken-Kaniff]

I hope and pray that the day comes when they stop making this silly movies! It's obvious that they can't handle Transformers to put them on a decent movie, but who cares? As long as the cash comes in...

 

[LTuser]

I'm not saying it has to look like G1, but already what this artist came up with looks infinitely better than the movie garbage we've been served up for the last 10 years.

That's one thing i really would like to see if they do a reboot. Go back to the proper origin stories of the transformers.. The Ark, the fleeing cybertron, crashing on earth..
Then they could bring in some of the humanocentric stuff from the comics, like Josie Beller (Circuit breaker) GB blackrock and the like..

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not naive. I understand you have to change things to make it more palatable for mainstream audiences. And you know what, for a long time, with the Michael Bay films it worked. But eventually, the audiences got sick of it.

But who is to say something more resembling G1 wouldn't work? Why would a movie with more defined characters and personalities for the robots not work?

 

[Jochimus]

I don't necessarily care if it slants back to G1 or not - I just wish we'd get a less stoopid franchise. And I don't mean the lowbrow humor, because it should be a given that whoever comes up with that stuff should be automatically and immediately backhanded the moment they come up with it - I mean the Ancient Mystical Space MacGuffin Of The Week, the Great Transformer Moments In Earth History, the Big Bad Of The First Movie Still Playing Second Fiddle To The One-&-Done Baddie Of The Week. Y'know, the repetitive-to-the-point-of-feeling-like-a-Jaws-sequel stuff.

 

[LTuser]

I mean the Ancient Mystical Space MacGuffin Of The Week, the Great Transformer Moments In Earth History,

I agree. The whole reveal of transformers in history, kinda was a put off in last knight. From those 6 who formed that dragon thing in arthurian legend to bumble bee and others working with the military in WW2.. You'd have thought if that was the case, the mil wouldn't have been so in the dark in T1/T2...

 

[Grootster]

I actually don't mind the Transformers throughout history thing (the execution in TLK wasn't the greatest though). What I don't understand is why they chose to put the Transformers at pretty much every time period throughout history. What's the point of saying Transformers met Harriet Tubman? Pretty much anything pre-1900 doesn't work because there's not enough vehicles for them to turn into (unless you're going to do something like Beast Wars). If they want to set up stuff for future spinoffs, they should really stick to the last century.

 

[LTuser]

I do, cause it kind of smacks down the whole "We never knew they existed" angle from T1..

 

[TheVileOne]

It's bad storytelling and Michael Bay is a bad storyteller. It's undeniable at this point.

 

[Grootster]

My main problem with the historical stuff is that it usually feels tacked on to the story instead of a natural part of it. I feel like this type of movie works best when it's an in-the-moment adventure. I really like the portion of TLK that takes place in the ruins of Chicago, the junkyard, and the abandoned town. That's all fast, fun, and in-the-moment. I feel like all the history stuff in Burton's castle slowed down the momentum of the adventure to a halt and took away from a storyline that was actually somewhat engaging.

 

[LTuser]

My main problem with the historical stuff is that it usually feels tacked on to the story instead of a natural part of it. I feel like this type of movie works best when it's an in-the-moment adventure. I really like the portion of TLK that takes place in the ruins of Chicago, the junkyard, and the abandoned town. That's all fast, fun, and in-the-moment. I feel like all the history stuff in Burton's castle slowed down the momentum of the adventure to a halt and took away from a storyline that was actually somewhat engaging.

Plus his butler transformer was annoying as hell.

 

[Grootster]

Plus his butler transformer was annoying as hell.

Yeah, he got old really fast. I actually feel like the movie went downhill the moment Cogman came into the story.

 

[Grootster]

According to the Transformers wiki, two ideas that were discussed as potential spinoffs were a movie set in ancient Rome and another set in feudal Japan.

Hearing things like this make me kind of relieved that the series was cancelled. I still would have liked a proper conclusion to the modern day story (and the WW2 movie), but what would be the point of these spinoffs? What would the robots even turn into?

I suppose I assumed a "Cinematic Universe" meant spinoff movies moving forward in the timeline, but if all the spinoffs were going to be historical things it's probably for the better that we'll never get them.

 

[LTuser]

UGG.. Historical transformers?! I like you am glad they ditched them..

 

[terry78]

They just don't know what to do with these characters unlike the cartoons and comics.

 

[Iceman]

One by one the non-MCU cinematic universes are getting cancelled or seeing a drop in quality. It ain’t that easy! Takes a lot of planning, commitment and execution skill.

 

[Grootster]

One by one the non-MCU cinematic universes are getting cancelled or seeing a drop in quality. It ain’t that easy! Takes a lot of planning, commitment and execution skill.

Yep, I've noticed that too. Back in 2015 when the Transformers Cinematic Universe was first announced I remember thinking to myself "that will probably fall through before it starts". Sure enough, my prediction is coming true. The idea is interesting for a fan of the brand like myself, but Transformers isn't exactly the kind of brand that lends itself to a Cinematic Universe. There's not much you can do outside of Optimus and Bumblebee (unless you want to really take some chances, which Hasbro and Paramount probably won't have the guts to do.)

 

[2kt09]

Yep, I've noticed that too. Back in 2015 when the Transformers Cinematic Universe was first announced I remember thinking to myself "that will probably fall through before it starts". Sure enough, my prediction is coming true. The idea is interesting for a fan of the brand like myself, but Transformers isn't exactly the kind of brand that lends itself to a Cinematic Universe. There's not much you can do outside of Optimus and Bumblebee (unless you want to really take some chances, which Hasbro and Paramount probably won't have the guts to do.)

[YT]rwIMfy_yaRw[/YT]

 

[Grootster]

Now it sounds like the animated Cybertron prequel movie has been cancelled.

I honestly can't say I'm too sad about this. I'd be interested to see what they could do with a movie like this, but I don't know if the current movieverse is the best place to explore it. It might be better to save something like this for a reboot series (or even tie it into one of the cartoons. Also, I'm generally a bit skeptical of Cybertron-based stuff. I liked War for Cybertron, but a lot of the time non-Earth stories remove the "disguise" element. I feel like I'm the only Transformers fan who actually prefers Earth-based stories.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threa...ovieverse-animated-prequel-cancelled.1144113/