Paramount CEO Confirms Michael Bay still has Absolute Power over the Transformers Films

A bit off-topic (aside from the photo being used), but Elena smiling with the Bay Films text in the credits confirms she is a fan of his movies and no one can convince me that it's not canon.

I’ve literally lost count of many of these pointless articles this site has written about how Rise the beasts didn’t perform well

Randomhero wrote:I’ve literally lost count of many of these pointless articles this site has written about how Rise the beasts didn’t perform well

I'm like to write an article about its opening numbers in Japan, since fans are curious and it's been brought up a lot. Should I only publish that article if the film performs well in Japan?

Randomhero wrote:I’ve literally lost count of many of these pointless articles this site has written about how Rise the beasts didn’t perform well

Will and the rest of the staff can only work with what they have. I know you'd like it to be wall to wall reviews by yours truly but that can't happen. The success or lack thereof correlates directly to how the brand will be perceived going forward which is important and could be used to explain why store A cuts their transformers section in half.

william-james88 wrote:I'm like to write an article about its opening numbers in Japan, since fans are curious and it's been brought up a lot. Should I only publish that article if the film performs well in Japan?

For me weekend box office updates are appreciated. But the pessimistic tone is a little heavy though bth.

Sure ROTB performs below expectations, and might be a loser for Paramount at the box office at the end of the day. But digital/physical media will play a bigger ratio for ROTB than any previous movies in recuperating costs because I bet more fans want to stream it than watch at the cinema nowadays. I am one of them. But I'm an outlier from the start as I can count on one hand how may times I go to the theatre in a year (my wife doesn't care about dumb blockbusters, nor I).

But in terms of pure losses, ROTB can't be worst than the DC/Marvels/Indy. It's jsut a weird movie year.

But that full script post... man... that a buzz killer IMO.

And besides, Box office numbers isn't that big a deal anyway. Profitable? Great! Paramount lost money on a film? Tax writeoff! AND (hopefully) lesson learned!

cloudballoon wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I'm like to write an article about its opening numbers in Japan, since fans are curious and it's been brought up a lot. Should I only publish that article if the film performs well in Japan?

For me weekend box office updates are appreciated. But the pessimistic tone is a little heavy though bth.

Sure ROTB performs below expectations, and might be a loser for Paramount at the box office at the end of the day. But digital/physical media will play a bigger ratio for ROTB than any previous movies in recuperating costs because I bet more fans want to stream it than watch at the cinema nowadays. I am one of them. But I'm an outlier from the start as I can count on one hand how may times I go to the theatre in a year (my wife doesn't care about dumb blockbusters, nor I).

But in terms of pure losses, ROTB can't be worst than the DC/Marvels/Indy. It's jsut a weird movie year.

But that full script post... man... that a buzz killer IMO.

And besides, Box office numbers isn't that big a deal anyway. Profitable? Great! Paramount lost money on a film? Tax writeoff! AND (hopefully) lesson learned!

Thanks, I really appreciate your post. And Chuck, the next news to be posted will be more to your taste.

cloudballoon wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I'm like to write an article about its opening numbers in Japan, since fans are curious and it's been brought up a lot. Should I only publish that article if the film performs well in Japan?

For me weekend box office updates are appreciated. But the pessimistic tone is a little heavy though bth.

Sure ROTB performs below expectations, and might be a loser for Paramount at the box office at the end of the day. But digital/physical media will play a bigger ratio for ROTB than any previous movies in recuperating costs because I bet more fans want to stream it than watch at the cinema nowadays. I am one of them. But I'm an outlier from the start as I can count on one hand how may times I go to the theatre in a year (my wife doesn't care about dumb blockbusters, nor I).

But in terms of pure losses, ROTB can't be worst than the DC/Marvels/Indy. It's jsut a weird movie year.

But that full script post... man... that a buzz killer IMO.

And besides, Box office numbers isn't that big a deal anyway. Profitable? Great! Paramount lost money on a film? Tax writeoff! AND (hopefully) lesson learned!

I was having this conversation with my sister the other day, I really think the fall is going to be surprising as these summer flicks do gangbusters on streaming.

"Bay was hesitant at first since he thought merging the two brands would cheapen the Transformers films"

That's comedy gold right there.

I think one of the major reasons ROTB failed is due to how different it felt to all predecessors. As with everything else these days, this film was trying to appeal to the urban demographic which will never mesh with science fiction/fantasy genres. The main protagonist is a car thief and the insistent hip hop music killed the immersion of the story all other films had. The final battle had so many people cringing in that theater due to the soundtrack it made us start laughing.

Brokebot wrote:"Bay was hesitant at first since he thought merging the two brands would cheapen the Transformers films"

That's comedy gold right there.

This

Try as they might this movie could not get me, a diehard Transformers fan, into a seat. I'm hoping this movie's mediocre performance will lead to Paramount and Hasbro reevaluating this franchise and making a movie that's a little closer to the source material, with less of an emphasis on Bayformers-brand humor and fancy cars.

So the movie opened 4th place in Japan.
I think this is newsworthy. BUT, it's also not good news. So if I write an article, will people still come at me for being a debbie downer? I don't really care for this whole walking on eggshells things when trying to create informative content to keep the community in the loop.

william-james88 wrote:So the movie opened 4th place in Japan.
I think this is newsworthy. BUT, it's also not good news. So if I write an article, will people still come at me for being a debbie downer? I don't really care for this whole walking on eggshells things when trying to create informative content to keep the community in the loop.

Report the headline and news as it is and let the people reach thier own conclusions.

Seibertron as site, doesnt cover all the of Transformers news, even with the submit new feature, which is okay, this is only a fan site after all. It just sometimes feels that whoever is writing has already reached a conclusion on how they feel about the subject and that shows on they approach it.

The recent Brian Robbins interview is a good example of that, where he talks about a lot of what's going on with Paramount and its movies but the headline is framed as a Michael Bay news.

If the writer wants to shara their views, they can make a separate comment.

william-james88 wrote:So the movie opened 4th place in Japan.
I think this is newsworthy. BUT, it's also not good news. So if I write an article, will people still come at me for being a debbie downer? I don't really care for this whole walking on eggshells things when trying to create informative content to keep the community in the loop.

Like I said, I appreciates the news. It's food for thought. Report on facts and numbers and let people decide what they take from it. Maybe put the facts at the top of the article, and personal opinion/analysis after might work better for some people? Still, it's kinda unnecessary to get personal on attacking the reporter.

Those that really don't like the Debbie Downer part? They're welcome to not read anything with ROTB movie in the headline.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

TulioDude wrote:

william-james88 wrote:So the movie opened 4th place in Japan.
I think this is newsworthy. BUT, it's also not good news. So if I write an article, will people still come at me for being a debbie downer? I don't really care for this whole walking on eggshells things when trying to create informative content to keep the community in the loop.

Report the headline and news as it is and let the people reach thier own conclusions.

Seibertron as site, doesnt cover all the of Transformers news, even with the submit new feature, which is okay, this is only a fan site after all. It just sometimes feels that whoever is writing has already reached a conclusion on how they feel about the subject and that shows on they approach it.

The recent Brian Robbins interview is a good example of that, where he talks about a lot of what's going on with Paramount and its movies but the headline is framed as a Michael Bay news.

If the writer wants to shara their views, they can make a separate comment.

Yes, great example with the Brian Robbins interview. And that was me as well. Sadly, writing "Paramount CEO talks about Movie Performances and future of the brands" gets almost no attention. So while I didnt really give a personal take on it, I did go with that I found to be the most interesting tidbit to start a more stimulating conversation. A lot of fans were wondering how much power Bay had over ROTB and the franchise as a whole and this was finally good evidence of that with a concrete and practical example.

A lot of other media sites focused on that tidbit, they probably found it most interesting too. It's anecdotle as opposed to corporate speak, which we always seem to appreciate more.

william-james88 wrote:will people still come at me for being a debbie downer?

Wouldn't that be a Decepti-downer? A Dead Ender?

Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing" or was Paramount soundly beat at the Box office by its rivals with better products though? IIRC Paramount was gun-ho being the first studio to reserve that time block to premiere? Then its rivals came, saw, and was like "Sure... I'm afraid of no ROTB." I think bad strategy played a bigger role than just blame on "bad timing."

I meant ZERO disrepect, but Paramount gave ROTB to a relatively inexperienced director in Caple Jr., nor have any big-star power lead actors. (To be clear, I don't mind Caple Jr. grow in his directorship role, and the leads are fine, they're both charming & competent for the blockbuster action movie)

If I was Paramount, given its already shaky financial situation, I'd go for a repeat of BBM: smaller budget & scope (again, Caple Jr. bit waaaay more than he could chew, adding plots & characters into his first TF movie like there's no tomorrow and just wanted to see too much TF stuffs on screen but ended up dorpping many of these films & CGI, wasting budget), and stay away from head-to-head competition from DC/Marvels.

Don't forget that the producers and writers share some of this. They had a story ready before the director was chosen. I also wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro had a list of characters who were going to appear at the ready so they could get to the real event for them...("Merchandising, Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!" ... I may have watched that film too many times)

cloudballoon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing"

At this point, absolutely. They released it in Japan three weeks after it was released on digital. That may be among the stupidest business decisions in history. That said, the digital numbers are going to be a factor in this.

First-Aid wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing"

At this point, absolutely. They released it in Japan three weeks after it was released on digital. That may be among the stupidest business decisions in history. That said, the digital numbers are going to be a factor in this.

My comment was meant for the US/Canada "Domestic" numbers. But you're right for Japan. I'm sure Paramount wanted to boost Paramount+ subs with such an early digital release for ROTB and some other reasons or another (perhaps making way for MI:DRp1, also a Paramount pictures), but that resulted in a big midlle finger for other regions that haven't had a theatre run yet.

First-Aid wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing"

At this point, absolutely. They released it in Japan three weeks after it was released on digital. That may be among the stupidest business decisions in history. That said, the digital numbers are going to be a factor in this.

Does the digital release have Japanese subtitles? If not, then Japan would have still had to wait for the movie's Japanese dub in order to watch it in a language they understand fluently. And said dub is loaded with much more Beast Wars nostalgia than the English version had since it's got a lot of the same voice cast as the original Japanese dub of Beast Wars, and the same director of voice acting and script localization, that being Yoshikazu Iwanami.

First-Aid wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing"

At this point, absolutely. They released it in Japan three weeks after it was released on digital. That may be among the stupidest business decisions in history. That said, the digital numbers are going to be a factor in this.

Digital numbers only factor in when a film is VOD, as Universal Studios demonstrated in their parent company's earnings call. Having it at no extra cost on Paramount + gets you practically nothing by comparison.

Also, if anyone is curious, yes the timing in Japan specifically was bad as it opened along with Elemental and, more importantly, Shin Jigen.

william-james88 wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Not surprised at where ROTB landed at in Japan, again, extremely bad timing.

Is it really 100% "bad timing"

At this point, absolutely. They released it in Japan three weeks after it was released on digital. That may be among the stupidest business decisions in history. That said, the digital numbers are going to be a factor in this.

Digital numbers only factor in when a film is VOD, as Universal Studios demonstrated in their parent company's earnings call. Having it at no extra cost on Paramount + gets you practically nothing by comparison.

Also, if anyone is curious, yes the timing in Japan specifically was bad as it opened along with Elemental and, more importantly, Shin Jigen.

If it wasn't for the fact I don't want to be bothered to cancel, I'd get a free trial to Paramount+ just to watch ROTB so there would be no money made period.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1352924/micha ... franchise/

I came across this and had a chuckle because well, seeing that Michael Bay is concerned about the quality of the franchise is a really bad comedy given how he basically made the same five films over and over again and ignored any sense of continuity completely. Plus, knowing the history of the series, GI Joe and Transformers have had crossovers since Day One even. Why this is a concern, I don't know. I'll never know.

I really hope they decide to reboot the continuity, especially with the "Transformers One" movie on the horizon. It would be a perfect time to do it.

Tyrannacon wrote:Plus, knowing the history of the series, GI Joe and Transformers have had crossovers since Day One even.

But only two of them have ever been any good (Devil's Due and Tom Scioli).

Tyrannacon wrote:https://www.slashfilm.com/1352924/michael-bay-worried-gi-joe-would-cheapen-transformers-franchise/

I came across this and had a chuckle because well, seeing that Michael Bay is concerned about the quality of the franchise is a really bad comedy given how he basically made the same five films over and over again and ignored any sense of continuity completely. Plus, knowing the history of the series, GI Joe and Transformers have had crossovers since Day One even. Why this is a concern, I don't know. I'll never know.

I really hope they decide to reboot the continuity, especially with the "Transformers One" movie on the horizon. It would be a perfect time to do it.

Technically Marvel and TF have had crossovers since day 1 as well

I wouldn't hold out hope for One being a reboot anymore than Bumblebee was. Better to just take the movies as they come and not sweat stuff like continuity between them. I swear we focus more on that then they do

Sabrblade wrote:

Tyrannacon wrote:Plus, knowing the history of the series, GI Joe and Transformers have had crossovers since Day One even.

But only two of them have ever been any good (Devil's Due and Tom Scioli).

Indeed. This is very true.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Tyrannacon wrote:https://www.slashfilm.com/1352924/michael-bay-worried-gi-joe-would-cheapen-transformers-franchise/

I came across this and had a chuckle because well, seeing that Michael Bay is concerned about the quality of the franchise is a really bad comedy given how he basically made the same five films over and over again and ignored any sense of continuity completely. Plus, knowing the history of the series, GI Joe and Transformers have had crossovers since Day One even. Why this is a concern, I don't know. I'll never know.

I really hope they decide to reboot the continuity, especially with the "Transformers One" movie on the horizon. It would be a perfect time to do it.

Technically Marvel and TF have had crossovers since day 1 as well

I wouldn't hold out hope for One being a reboot anymore than Bumblebee was. Better to just take the movies as they come and not sweat stuff like continuity between them. I swear we focus more on that then they do

Oh, that ship left the port and was lost at sea ages ago for me. I guess it'll only matter if Hasbro exerts some level of creative control or the creatives decide to do that. I've given up hope for it though.

I'm probably very jaded at this point but ROTB felt 'meh' despite the excellent action and sfx. I appreciate that they included Mirage with his cool personality and illusions but he could've done even more. Remember what Marvel did with Mysterio against Spiderman? Incredible illusions there! Mirage could've hoodwinked Scourge's crew and led them into a big trap. The beastformers were kind of stupid, being basically non-disguised and having to hide in remote parts of South America. The 'lead humans' situation seemed to be handled quite clumsily. How is it that Prime's little crew failed to scan Scourge's crew before engaging them at the museum? They could've discovered the enemies' power boost and engaged accordingly, without nearly losing Bumblebum.

snavej wrote:I'm probably very jaded at this point but ROTB felt 'meh' despite the excellent action and sfx. I appreciate that they included Mirage with his cool personality and illusions but he could've done even more. Remember what Marvel did with Mysterio against Spiderman? Incredible illusions there! Mirage could've hoodwinked Scourge's crew and led them into a big trap. The beastformers were kind of stupid, being basically non-disguised and having to hide in remote parts of South America. The 'lead humans' situation seemed to be handled quite clumsily. How is it that Prime's little crew failed to scan Scourge's crew before engaging them at the museum? They could've discovered the enemies' power boost and engaged accordingly, without nearly losing Bumblebum.

Kinda what you get when story is not a primary concern and continuity isn't a term they even understand.

I believe that these headlines are overselling the idea of how much control Michael Bay has over the Transformers
A Link to interview thatlead to this idea
https://variety.com/2023/film/features/ ... 235679142/

Robbins calls it having “a big idea.” And in the case of the latest “Transformers” film, that eureka moment was to have G.I. Joe enter the robots’ cinematic universe, bringing together two of Paramount’s biggest franchises. But that required Robbins to convince Hasbro, the toy company behind both sets of characters, and producers Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay, to let the studio bring the worlds together. And Bay’s approval was tricky, because he was worried that merging the series would cheapen the other “Transformers” movies. “I called him 50 times,” Robbins says. “I would not let him off the hook. And when he finally stopped dodging my calls, we got him to sign off.”

Here is what Wikipedia describes what an movie executive producer does:

In films, executive producers may finance the film, participate in the creative effort, or work on set. Their responsibilities vary from funding or attracting investors into the movie project to legal, scripting, marketing, advisory and supervising capacities.

Executive producers vary in involvement, responsibility and power. Some executive producers have hands-on control over every aspect of production, some supervise the producers of a project, while others are involved in name only.

According to TFWiki, his role is also described as associate producer, so here is what I found about them

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER DESCRIPTION
What is an associate producer?
An associate producer is a below-the-line producer that works under the supervision of another producer. They are often referred to as the ‘AP.’ They assist another producer in putting a film or television episode together. Strong writing and editing skills are necessary.

As an associate producer in film, you’ll may find yourself:

Coordinating meetings with creatives, agents, and producers.
Making short lists for creative positions.
Making short lists for possible talent.
Representing the producer on marketing calls.

An Associate Producer works on the set of a film, television, theater or other production to assist the Producer in completing tasks like writing, editing or basic assisting tasks to keep the production running smoothly. Their duties include pitching story ideas, organizing scripts and collaborating with the Editor to make shot selections.

Sources: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what- ... oducer-do/
https://www.wrapbook.com/blog/associate-producer
https://www.indeed.com/hire/job-descrip ... e-producer

We can conclude while Michael Bay still gives his feedback to ideas and other aspects, he is a part of larger team. Paramount and Hasbro show to understand that Transformers are too big, to have just one voice deciding everything.

TulioDude wrote:I believe that these headlines are overselling the idea of how much control Michael Bay has over the Transformers
A Link to interview thatlead to this idea
https://variety.com/2023/film/features/ ... 235679142/

Robbins calls it having “a big idea.” And in the case of the latest “Transformers” film, that eureka moment was to have G.I. Joe enter the robots’ cinematic universe, bringing together two of Paramount’s biggest franchises. But that required Robbins to convince Hasbro, the toy company behind both sets of characters, and producers Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay, to let the studio bring the worlds together. And Bay’s approval was tricky, because he was worried that merging the series would cheapen the other “Transformers” movies. “I called him 50 times,” Robbins says. “I would not let him off the hook. And when he finally stopped dodging my calls, we got him to sign off.”

Here is what Wikipedia describes what an movie executive producer does:

In films, executive producers may finance the film, participate in the creative effort, or work on set. Their responsibilities vary from funding or attracting investors into the movie project to legal, scripting, marketing, advisory and supervising capacities.

Executive producers vary in involvement, responsibility and power. Some executive producers have hands-on control over every aspect of production, some supervise the producers of a project, while others are involved in name only.

According to TFWiki, his role is also described as associate producer, so here is what I found about them

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER DESCRIPTION
What is an associate producer?
An associate producer is a below-the-line producer that works under the supervision of another producer. They are often referred to as the ‘AP.’ They assist another producer in putting a film or television episode together. Strong writing and editing skills are necessary.

As an associate producer in film, you’ll may find yourself:

Coordinating meetings with creatives, agents, and producers.
Making short lists for creative positions.
Making short lists for possible talent.
Representing the producer on marketing calls.

An Associate Producer works on the set of a film, television, theater or other production to assist the Producer in completing tasks like writing, editing or basic assisting tasks to keep the production running smoothly. Their duties include pitching story ideas, organizing scripts and collaborating with the Editor to make shot selections.

Sources: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what- ... oducer-do/
https://www.wrapbook.com/blog/associate-producer
https://www.indeed.com/hire/job-descrip ... e-producer

We can conclude while Michael Bay still gives his feedback to ideas and other aspects, he is a part of larger team. Paramount and Hasbro show to understand that Transformers are too big, to have just one voice deciding everything.

OK. I have to say this is impressive work. Well done putting all this stuff together. And I agree 100%.

TulioDude wrote:I believe that these headlines are overselling the idea of how much control Michael Bay has over the Transformers

We can conclude while Michael Bay still gives his feedback to ideas and other aspects, he is a part of larger team. Paramount and Hasbro show to understand that Transformers are too big, to have just one voice deciding everything.

Yes, Michael Bay is part of a team of producers, but he still has as much power as anyone else, not less. Also, he is CEO of the Bay Films production company which helps to bankroll these movies, along with simply being a producer of the movies. So that adds an extra wrinkle to how much he has invested and the power he has.

On a different topic, I never could get the final numbers from Japan because it's all scattered with different movie grosses coming from different places. But in short, Japan won't save this film from being the lowest grossing live action Transformers film ever, and that's before adjusting for inflation. Other websites are reporting on that, don't know if it would be redundant to do it as well here one final time.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1366244/rise- ... %20million.

First-Aid wrote:
OK. I have to say this is impressive work. Well done putting all this stuff together. And I agree 100%.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

william-james88 wrote:Yes, Michael Bay is part of a team of producers, but he still has as much power as anyone else, not less. Also, he is CEO of the Bay Films production company which helps to bankroll these movies, along with simply being a producer of the movies. So that adds an extra wrinkle to how much he has invested and the power he has.

Never said that he did have less power, just that the way the news is being told is focusing too much on Michael Bay, leading some people to idea he is the main person making the decisions.

cloudballoon wrote:
Is it really 100% "bad timing" or was Paramount soundly beat at the Box office by its rivals with better products though? IIRC Paramount was gun-ho being the first studio to reserve that time block to premiere? Then its rivals came, saw, and was like "Sure... I'm afraid of no ROTB." I think bad strategy played a bigger role than just blame on "bad timing."

I think this one of the biggest challenges they have. If Paramount chooses a date for the film first and another movie chooses a nearby date, should they have to move it to another date?

TulioDude wrote:If Paramount chooses a date for the film first and another movie chooses a nearby date, should they have to move it to another date?

Not unheard of. Recent example that I know of is the Avatar 2 juggernaut, causing DC to avoid direct competition by moving Shazam! 2. And even Disney is moving release date for Wicked in 2024 to avoid Avatar 3.

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/wick ... helle-yeoh

Sabrblade wrote:Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has become the #1 highest grossing movie in Peruvian cinema history.

That's great to hear!
The film did a good job with the setting in Peru.

TulioDude wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has become the #1 highest grossing movie in Peruvian cinema history.

That's great to hear!
The film did a good job with the setting in Peru.

But... but... all I hear in the movie was "Brooklyn, Baby!"

While Peru was featured as a setting, it feels so... background-ny to me. I thought we'd get more.

cloudballoon wrote:

TulioDude wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has become the #1 highest grossing movie in Peruvian cinema history.

That's great to hear!
The film did a good job with the setting in Peru.

But... but... all I hear in the movie was "Brooklyn, Baby!"

While Peru was featured as a setting, it feels so... background-ny to me. I thought we'd get more.

I agree that the Brooklyn aspect didn't feel necessary, but the parts at Peru itself, did represent the country as a unique setting. Many movies would've just said "somewhere in south america" and cut the scene to a jungle. It seens a small thing, but it means a lot to the peolple who live there.

TulioDude wrote:I agree that the Brooklyn aspect didn't feel necessary, but the parts at Peru itself, did represent the country as a unique setting. Many movies would've just said "somewhere in south america" and cut the scene to a jungle. It seens a small thing, but it means a lot to the peolple who live there.

That's true. Who'd have thought a TF movie would do better than many other, more serious movies. I'm just greedy and wanted to see more of Peru in ROTB, as we know there are more footage than what we saw in theatre.

I hope the bonus features in the DVD do show a bit more. And we can dream of a Director's Cut, can we?

cloudballoon wrote:

TulioDude wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has become the #1 highest grossing movie in Peruvian cinema history.

That's great to hear!
The film did a good job with the setting in Peru.

But... but... all I hear in the movie was "Brooklyn, Baby!"

While Peru was featured as a setting, it feels so... background-ny to me. I thought we'd get more.

And the Brooklyn scenes weren't even shot there, they were shot in Montreal.

william-james88 wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:

TulioDude wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has become the #1 highest grossing movie in Peruvian cinema history.

That's great to hear!
The film did a good job with the setting in Peru.

But... but... all I hear in the movie was "Brooklyn, Baby!"

While Peru was featured as a setting, it feels so... background-ny to me. I thought we'd get more.

And the Brooklyn scenes weren't even shot there, they were shot in Montreal.

It's amazing how many movies are being shot outside the main studios in Hollywood. Georgia and Vancouver are becoming very prevalent in movie-making. Why NOT shoot in Brooklyn for a Brooklyn scene? Availability of areas is one possibility. Taxes and costs are the most likely scenario though. That's a large contributor to why so many movie studios are moving outside LA/California. Just too expensive to shoot there anymore, let alone house the size of the cast and crew temporarily anymore.

cloudballoon wrote:

TulioDude wrote:I agree that the Brooklyn aspect didn't feel necessary, but the parts at Peru itself, did represent the country as a unique setting. Many movies would've just said "somewhere in south america" and cut the scene to a jungle. It seens a small thing, but it means a lot to the peolple who live there.

That's true. Who'd have thought a TF movie would do better than many other, more serious movies. I'm just greedy and wanted to see more of Peru in ROTB, as we know there are more footage than what we saw in theatre.

I hope the bonus features in the DVD do show a bit more. And we can dream of a Director's Cut, can we?

If they want the to Maximals appear again,they could show them in Peru first, before joinning up with Autobots.

First-Aid wrote:
It's amazing how many movies are being shot outside the main studios in Hollywood. Georgia and Vancouver are becoming very prevalent in movie-making. Why NOT shoot in Brooklyn for a Brooklyn scene? Availability of areas is one possibility. Taxes and costs are the most likely scenario though. That's a large contributor to why so many movie studios are moving outside LA/California. Just too expensive to shoot there anymore, let alone house the size of the cast and crew temporarily anymore.

That makes sense. If they can save budget by recreating a location instead of paying the tax for filming in a city, they will do it.

One of the recent Star Trek: Strange New World episodes pokes fun at the One place standing in for another aspect. The characters think they're in new York at first but it turns out to be Toronto (if I recall), a place often used in a stand in for other cities.

Any vinyl lovers out there? Well the Transformers Rise of the Beasts soundtrack is coming out on vinyl on December 15th and a bunch of stores have it for preorder. Below is a list of places to preorder it in the US and Canada. It is limited to 500 copies according to the listings. The music is by, who we interviewed. You can check out that interview below of you haven't already.

Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Ris ... formers-20?tag=seibertron07-20&

Best Buy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/transforme ... l=nosplash

Bull Moose https://www.bullmoose.com/p/36760209/tr ... 0g-ltd-500

Zia Records https://www.ziarecords.com/p/14929845/t ... 0g-ltd-500

Amazon.ca https://www.amazon.ca/Transformers-Beas ... 123&sr=8-1?tag=seibertron0b-20&

Stay tuned to the very end for a bonus clip after the Spider-Man 2 PS5 promo:

Here is the video where David Sobolov finally explains the "I'll clear the way!" line from ROTB, beginning at 5:28:

Well, I finally saw ROTB thanks to it being free to view on Amazon Prime this month. To be cut and dry about it, I really did not enjoy it. There's some stuff I liked, but once again I feel like we're being given the same MacGuffin plot over again. Honestly, I feel like someone needs to stop letting Michael Bay have a damn thing to do with the Transformers brand entirely at this point. I know he's the executive producer in this case, but amazingly it felt like he was directing this one because it took almost everything the Bumblebee movie did right and tossed it out the window. Then again, some people enjoy these movies for the simple fact they're the same rehashed plot again and again as it does nothing new or monumental that the other ones haven't already done. The film I feel does balance out Bay's common tropes. It does some things better in fact, but I still find his influence on the series to cast this over looming shadow of disorder and greater dysfunction upon the entire series that keeps it from ever achieving and realizing the potential it has to be better than it is. His decisions I feel hold the series back completely though, especially with this obsession with the MacGuffin-type plot. It's seriously where I thought of this bit from American Dad to describe my experience with the Transformers live-action films.



Yeah. I'm tired. I'm tired of the MacGuffin plot. It's been simply DONE. TO. DEATH. I swear if Transformers One indicates even slightly some type of MacGuffin I'm going to bellow so loud that everyone in the next town over can hear me. XD

After The Last Knight used the MacGuffin plot for the fifth time in the series and Rise of the Beasts has now used it for the sixth time, I think Hasbro needs to look at Michael Bay and say "no more" going forward unless the format is done entirely different. What I mean is that the MacGuffin plot has a formula to it. Something bad happened long ago, some crucial device is hidden/entrusted to be hidden, our heroes find out about the device, the device needs to be acquired before bad guys who are also looking for said device, the device is used destructively, there's a big long drawn out battle that destroys a country's infrastructure, good guys win the day and device is either destroyed outright or turned into something else. Let's not forget to add in some awkward emotional development and inclusion of human sub-plots with relationships and family to drive some kind of point home regarding the morality of our main human characters.

Enough. Just...ENOUGH! Seriously.

I love Transformers and I just am tired of seeing it mishandled by Bay (and his group) who clearly doesn't understand the source material. Frankly, I feel like Kurtzman and Orci had a better grasp of the source material than anyone else even and that goes back to the '07 film. Bay and his groupies have no idea on how continuity works, and they just decided to make something loud and pretty so people are taken in by the splendor of CGI and SFX. It's an advertisement to sell toys. What happened? I thought the brand itself was growing beyond this. I mean G1 cartoon has some heart, yes, but it is a shameless toy commercial ultimately and a product of the 80s. ROTB is like that in a lot of ways though too so maybe that was intentional? I want more stories with the Decepticons and Megatron though, as both are big staples of the brand. The brand itself was specifically founded on both Optimus Prime and Megatron, and the Autobot and Decepticons battling each other. Make it a war movie, do it from the perspective of the Transformers themselves. Get rid of the human drama BS, but then I don't think the general audience can relate with the Cybertronians anymore than a fish can be taught poetry.

So the good, I think the usage of Unicron and Scourge (and calling the Terrorcons Novakane and Feezer his Sweeps/along with their clones) was a nice little thing. Plus giving Scourge some character moments (along with a few lines from the others). Unicron, this version, seemed on the same level as both the '86 movie and even in Transformers: Prime as ominous and foreboding in terms of presence. This is essentially how Unicron is always seen and frankly, I like they nailed this. I was really happy he was portrayed separately from Earth this time, but then you have the fact that this movie wants to keep playing in that particular sandbox by going back and being a prequel of sorts to Bay's previous films. Frankly, I see the series at this point more of a Mobius strip where it twists and turns upon itself infinitely, but the problem is the contradictions within the contradictions that exist. If you look at the Terminator movies, this is an example of an overlapping and contradictory timeline that adjusts itself in each sequel to go into a different split. The problem with Rise of the Beasts? It's less intelligent about it. The final thing is the female characters in the film seemed to not be as one-dimensional and had characterization and even some worthwhile development. I would say Elena Wallace was more than a pretty face, which was great. Arcee, Airazor, and Nightbird had some also great characterizations as well. As for everyone else, Optimus Prime seemed back to being a grumpy psychopath like he is commonly portrayed in the Bayverse, Mirage was Pete Davidson - had many of his...qualities that are just basically Pete Davidson, Wheeljack was given an ounce more of characterization than he had in DOTM but then we're ignoring those movies still at the same time they happen in this timeline? IDK!

Optimus Primal was more of a move-the-plot-along character which is a shame. He does provide some needed exposition, which is nice, but he along with the others (Cheetor and Rhinox) are just there to be plot devices. For this being called Rise of the Beasts, it was lacking in Beasts in their Beast Wars movie, yes? *tap tap* Hello?! Sorry, my inner Ian Malcolm came through for the moment here.

Do you know what I miss about Beast Wars? Garry Chalk! While I love Ron Pearlman, the voice of Optimus Primal is none other than Garry Chalk and he should've been here for this. Hell, David Kaye would have been nice as the Predacon Megatron in this as well. I think that's one thing I enjoyed about the War For Cybertron series on Netflix, even though they didn't have the original voice actors they at least told a somewhat decent story, and they even changed things up to do things differently enough to make it new.

In the end, ROTB will be forgotten and we'll all move on. I know it did some cool stuff, but at the end of the day I don't think it offered anything we haven't gotten already and frankly, I'm tired of that being the common theme with these movies. I think the live-action series is dead to me at this point, but if anyone else still enjoys it, good on them. I hope you people that enjoy it keep finding them enjoyable. I haven't found them enjoyable in a long time. Let's get to the next Transformers media project, shall we? See if it is any better.

Tyrannacon wrote:I swear if Transformers One indicates even slightly some type of MacGuffin I'm going to bellow so loud that everyone in the next town over can hear me. XD

Unfortunately, it'll likely involve the original launch of the AllSpark from Cybertron, which has since became the default go-to for the evergreen Transformers backstory.

At the end of the day, the brand still wouldn't be so shackled to the Bay movies if said Bay movies hadn't made billions upon billions of dollars for Hasbro. That's really what it boils down to.

Sabrblade wrote:

Tyrannacon wrote:I swear if Transformers One indicates even slightly some type of MacGuffin I'm going to bellow so loud that everyone in the next town over can hear me. XD

Unfortunately, it'll likely involve the original launch of the AllSpark from Cybertron, which has since became the default go-to for the evergreen Transformers backstory.

At the end of the day, the brand still wouldn't be so shackled to the Bay movies if said Bay movies hadn't made billions upon billions of dollars for Hasbro. That's really what it boils down to.

Sadly true. Of course, I suspect it might cause people to be upset if the films took a more cerebral approach or tried to be more like the IDW 2005 continuity. Money talks and there's been a lot of it thanks to Bay and his crappy style.

I did forget about the AllSpark being the new MacGuffin origin story. I guess in that situation I feel like that is probably a bit more acceptable, albeit not by much, than the typical affair. Then again I'm sure there's gonna be some level of continuity-defying moment that throws the timeline upside down in another twist. I wish they'd just come out and say "We're rebooting the series" and not be so completely and bullheadedly indirect about it. Oh well. Hopefully, the writing and dialogue will be better in the next. I felt that the dialogue between the human characters over ROTB was a bit forced.