With Optimus Prime searching the cosmos for the Creators, a new alien threat arrives on Earth. USA TODAY NETWORK
About Last Knight: The fifth Transformers movie has failed to transfix American audiences.
Transformers: The Last Knight continued to underperform domestically over the July 4 holiday (finishing
third with $17 million and $102.1 million total) after launching the previous weekend with $44.7 million, the weakest box-office opening in franchise history — less than half what Age of Extinction debuted with in 2014.
The studio has pointed to the strong international performance (now at $327.8 million). "You really have to consider how we did in the overall," Kyle Davies, Paramount's president of distribution, told the Associated Press after the movie opened. "It was really strong overseas and in China."
But the so-so numbers signal that domestic audiences want change in future installments.
"Transformer movies have always taken a critical thrashing with fans giving strong support. That honeymoon is over in North America," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. "You look at these numbers and think 'Holy cow.' "
Director Michael Bay on the set of 'Transformers: The Last Knight.' (Photo: Andrew Cooper)
Filmmakers had tried a writers' room, which resulted in a deeper Last Knight story that wove Transformers lore with Arthurian legend and had Optimus Prime dramatically battle fellow hero Autobot Bumblebee.
But bigger changes are in store for the franchise because director Michael Bay insists that The Last Knight will be his last Transformers film.
"Michael will, of course, stay involved with the franchise — his ideas will be a part of all this," says producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. "But we'll be moving forward with a new director for another movie."
This is a good thing, says Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations.
"The key is getting away from Bay. He's done his job here and made billions," says Bock. "But it seems like we're seeing the same thing again and again. To reinvigorate domestic audiences, someone else has to breathe life into this franchise."
Production is set to begin this summer on a Transformers spinoff involving Bumblebee, expected in theaters on June 8, 2018. Travis Knight, who helmed the Oscar-nominated animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, will bring a new directorial vision.
Di Bonaventura promises a more "intimate" story between Bumblebee and a young tomboy played by Hailee Steinfeld.
"It's still going to be a Transformers movie in every sense with spectacle," says di Bonaventura. "But you'll also recognize it as quite a big departure."
The premise will hark back to the relationship between Shia LaBeouf''s Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee in 2007's original Transformers, says di Bonaventura. "The first Transformers is a favorite for many partly because the first 50 minutes were very intimate," he says. "We're going back in that direction."
Hailee Steinfeld starred as an awkward teen in 'The Edge of Seventeen.' (Photo: Murray Close, Universal Pictures)
In a marked tone change, di Bonaventura says he found inspiration for the upcoming Transformers in Steinfeld's 2016 teen drama The Edge of Seventeen.
“That’s the movie, frankly, that we keyed off. She was extraordinary," he says. "She's dynamic and has a range of emotion. We are probably doing more emotion than we have ever done before.”
The writers' room provided a potential story road for Paramount to expand the universe, with Transformers 7 penciled in for release on June 28, 2019. Fans such as Darryl Laughy (aka Cybertronian Beast, host for TransMissions, a podcast devoted to Transformers) are hopeful the next film can turn the tide.
"I'm giving Travis Knight the benefit of the doubt," Laughy says. "I'm looking forward to what he has in store."
Contributing: The Associated Press
Bumblebee (left) and Shia LaBeouf worked together in 'Transformers.' (Photo: DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures)
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