It’s Time To Admit The Harsh Truth About Michael Bay’s Transformers Movies 7 Years After The Last Knight

The harsh truth about Michael Bay’s Transformers movies is even more apparent following the release of Transformers One. From 2007-2017, Bay directed five Transformers movies, the last of which was 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. Since The Last Knight‘s debut, the franchise has released three theatrical movies – Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Transformers One. Travis Knight, Steven Caple Jr., and Josh Cooley respectively directed each of these installments.

Bay was a producer for Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts, and Transformers One, but was not as involved in these movies as he was in the Transformers stories that he directed. Bumblebee and Transformers One received positive reviews from both critics and general audiences, and were viewed as a refreshing change of pace for the franchise in the aftermath of Bay’s direction. Despite the mostly positive reception, the franchise has struggled at the box office since Bay stepped away from the director’s chair.

Michael Bay’s Transformers Movies Are Still The Franchise’s Most Successful By Far

The Box Office Numbers Tell A Clear Story

As per The Numbers, all the Bay-directed Transformers movies performed much better at the box office than Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts, and Transformers One. Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, while Bay’s lowest grossing franchise entry, The Last Knight, earned more than $600 million. Both Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts earned far less than The Last Knight, with their box office runs ending in the $400 million range.

Rise of the Beasts‘ $157.341 million domestic box office total and $61.045 opening weekend debut are better than The Last Knight‘s $130.68 domestic box office and $44.68 million opening weekend. These are the only exceptions to Bay’s movies performing better in every other box office category. Other than The Last Knight, Bay’s Transformers movies far outperformed the recent installments, whose box office results are a far cry from even Bay’s second-worst performer, Transformers, at $708.272 million worldwide.

Transformers One is still in theaters and its box office totals are not yet complete, but it is highly unlikely that it will get close to the totals for any of Bay’s movies. The animated prequel had the franchise’s all-time lowest opening weekend debut at $24.613 million, while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen more than quadrupled during its opening weekend. Transformers One‘s critical success has, unfortunately, not translated to its financial performance, even when taking into account its lower production budget.

Why Transformers Has Yet To Have A Major Hit Outside Of The Bayverse

The Franchise Was Already Struggling Before The Bayverse Ended

While critics did not like Bay’s Transformers movies, the box office figures demonstrate that plenty of audiences still went to the theater to see his take on the franchise. With his explosive, action-packed storytelling that prioritized spectacle, Bay was able to generate mainstream appeal in a franchise previously known for its toys and animated series. Transformers became a big-budget action blockbuster series, and there was consistency in how he approached all the installments he directed.

Before the animated series or first movie,
Transformers
began as toy lines in the 1980s.

This worked well for a while, but the noticeable box office decline between Age of Extinction and The Last Knight shows that audiences were already beginning to feel fatigued by the Transformers franchise. Bumblebee took a different approach with its 1980s coming-of-age story, as did Transformers One being an animated prequel set on Cybertron. These new approaches worked well for critics and audiences who saw them, but were not able to overcome the previous franchise fatigue, and may have felt too niche compared to Bay’s more mainstream approach.

Transformers Became Synonymous With Michael Bay’s Movies For Too Long

He Is Forever Known As The Transformers Director

Directing five Transformers movies over the course of a decade inevitably made Bay become synonymous with the Transformers brand. This is partly due to the franchise undergoing a significant change between Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction, which saw Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky and the human characters from the previous three movies replaced by Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager and a new cast of human characters. Bay was at the forefront of this change, leading to the incorrect assumption that he was also at the forefront of major creative changes that happened after The Last Knight.

Since
The Last Knight
, Bay has directed the Ryan Reynolds-led
6 Underground
and the Jake Gyllenhaal-led
Ambulance
, but is still primarily associated with
Transformers
.

Regardless of how well-received Bumblebee and Transformers One were, they were not given as much of a chance by audiences, partly due to lingering frustration and fatigue from Bay’s Transformers movies. Bumblebee releasing only a year and a half after The Last Knight did not help with this either, as it was too soon after Bay’s last movie to revamp the franchise. Since The Last Knight, Bay has directed the Ryan Reynolds-led 6 Underground and the Jake Gyllenhaal-led Ambulance, but is still primarily associated with Transformers.

Will Transformers Ever Find The Balance Between “Bayverse” And A New Style?

An Upcoming Crossover May Be The Answer

Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts provided new and exciting entry points into the franchise, while still retaining certain elements of Bay’s live-action Transformers movies. Transformers One, on the other hand, was a further departure from the Bayverse as an animated and standalone prequel. At this point, it may be better for the franchise to continue building on one or more of these new avenues instead of trying to find another different direction.

The G.I. Joe and Transformers crossover teased by Rise of the Beasts‘ ending may be the best way to balance the Bayverse with a new style. It will be a live-action story set on Earth and will likely feature some familiar characters, voice actors, and visual elements from Bay’s movies, and may incorporate his style driven by action-spectacle set pieces. The G.I. Joe and Transformers crossover can be grounded in a new narrative and directorial style, while still feeling reminiscent of the pieces that helped make Bay’s movies become box office hits.

Meanwhile, despite the prequel’s box office woes, a Transformers One sequel should not be abandoned. Transformers One was a strong start to a new series that left the door open for many future stories about Cybertron, the Autobots, the Decepticons, and the Quintessons. If the franchise continually sets up and abandons new stories every time there is a box office disappointment, there will be little confidence in any future direction, even if Transformers does somehow find the perfect way to balance the Bayverse and a new directorial style.

Source: The Numbers