Let It Die: Transformers

https://lebeauleblog.com/2018/11/26/let-it-die-transformers/

The movie’s success wasn’t good news for everyone. The first movie made stars of its two young leads, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. LeBeouf was already on the star track when he signed on to do Transformers, but Fox was plucked from obscurity. Transformers made her an overnight sensation and it seemed to go to her head. In between the second and third movies, the actress committed career suicide by comparing Michael Bay to a Nazi. Not only is it a bad idea to insult your boss, you really don’t want to use the term “Nazi” when Steven Spielberg is around. He canned Fox so fast her head is probably still spinning.

But Fox’s leading man wasn’t immune to the dangers of success. Shia LaBeouf derailed his career with a lot of wacky behavior. He also insulted his benefactor by calling out Spielberg for messing up Indiana Jones 4. He wasn’t wrong, but you just don’t say that sort of thing if you want to keep working in Hollywood. Having replaced Fox with a Victoria’s Secret model, Spielberg and Bay felt empowered to swap out LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg in the next movie.

Transformers: Age of Extinction under-performed in the US where it grossed just under $250 million. But nobody cared because the movie cleaned up overseas. Worldwide, the fourth movie in the franchise took in over a billion dollars. That meant there was still fuel in the tank, so in 2017 Bay served up the fifth movie, Transformers: The Last Knight. The Last Knight bombed domestically, but it still took in a tidy haul overseas which means we’re not done with Transformers yet.

Later this month, Paramount will release a spin-off movie starring the lovable yellow robot, Bumblebee. This is clearly a Hail Mary pass to extend the the franchise beyond its natural life. Domestic audiences have been sending the studio a message on the last couple of movies, but Parmount won’t listen. It’s possible that this prequel – the first in the series not directed by Michael Bay – will revive interest in the series, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. When has a spin-off prequel ever worked?

Realistically, Paramount isn’t going to put its toys on the shelf indefinitely. There’s too much money to be made at the box office and in toy sales to ever let Transformers die. But they should set the franchise aside for a while. Let nostalgia build as the kids who grew up on these movies age into adulthood. And then, find another director who likes to blow things up to come up with a new take on robots punching each other.