The Transformers franchise has been nothing if not divisive.
While some fans have remained resolutely loyal, the majority of critics, and plenty of average
moviegoers, have criticized its emphasis on noisy CGI style over storytelling substance.
Still, the series has raked in a combined total of over $4 billion, proving there's
an audience for this series.
Or there was, anyway.
In 2018, Paramount tabled plans to make a Transformers 7 for the foreseeable future.
Why would the studio stop the machine that transformed a toy line into a multi-billion-dollar
global cinematic affair?
The answers might surprise you.
Critical disdain and financial struggles
No studio wants to invest years of development and millions of dollars into films that critics
end up trashing with negative reviews.
While that concern is usually secondary to box office grosses, the reality is that with
Transformers, Paramount was seeing both dwindle at roughly proportionate rates.
Maybe the series' downward-trending Rotten Tomatoes scores indicated a larger problem.
Perhaps the average moviegoer finally saw what the critics saw in these films, and consequently
chose not to see them anymore.
It's hardly unusual for action blockbusters to earn middling-to-negative reviews, but
the Transformers pattern was clear: the movies were entertaining fewer and fewer people as
they went along.
"I don't know what you're hiding but I don't want anything to do with it, so goodbye, you
never saw me, I got bagels to shmear.
Vanish!"
Following the second entry's series high of $402.1 million in receipts, 2009's Revenge
of the Fallen, domestic ticket sales have dropped with each installment in the franchise.
These movies are extremely expensive, and if audiences are snubbing sequels to such
a degree that more than $100 million disappeared between chapters, maybe it's time for Paramount
to reassess.
It's a worldwide trend, too, as 2017's The Last Knight raked in $500 million less internationally
than its predecessor, 2014's Age of Extinction.
Bye to the Bay
Very few people are qualified to direct a $200 million movie.
It requires an immense amount of technical skill, leadership, coordination, and planning.
That is why, love him or hate him, studios respect Michael Bay and his particular set
of skills.
Bay's been making noise about leaving the franchise for years, but Paramount has kept
making him offers he couldn't refuse.
"A gigantic pile of money."
But as of 2017, he has officially departed the franchise.
Without Bay, the studio simply doesn't have a go-to guy that can guarantee the successful
production of a blockbuster on this scale.
A convoluted narrative
It's generous to say that the Transformers franchise has really never made a lick of
sense.
But at least the first movie's plot was simple and elegant: a boy finds out his car is actually
an alien robot, and the two go on an adventure to recover a magic cube.
It was just outlandish and silly enough to work.
From there, however, Bay and his stable of writers have churned out an increasingly convoluted
narrative.
In Revenge of the Fallen, Optimus Prime was brought back to life by an ancient dagger
disguised as a pile of sand.
Then in Dark of the Moon, we learned that the Decepticons had actually been within range
of Earth for decades, and were simply hiding and waiting for the right moment to reveal
themselves.
Age of Extinction went even further back in time, claiming there were prehistoric dinosaur
Transformers.
Then The Last Knight revealed that Bumblebee was a World War II veteran.
And that Shia LaBeouf's character was a descendant of the Knights of the Round Table.
Uh-huh.
"It is I, Merlin.
The wizard?
Ha, remember me?"
Where could the writers have possibly gone from there?
Fortunately, it doesn't look like we'll have to find out.
Paramount's brand priorities
Movie franchises often strive to expand the overall brand with success across other mediums,
but that's easier said than done, and Transformers is proof.
The property has maintained strength in the action figure market, but there's been little
growth in other areas.
The publishing license remains stuck at a B-tier comic book company, while the latest
tie-in video games have been met with middling reviews, or worse.
Meanwhile, Paramount has plenty of other big movies for well-known and beloved intellectual
properties lined up for 2019, which means a lot of money is already at stake.
Currently on the slate are the long-awaited Top Gun sequel, another Terminator reboot,
and a Sonic the Hedgehog adaptation.
They're all high-profile releases based on huge brands, and they're each risky in its
own way.
Given all the money on the line with these films, it's only logical that Paramount wouldn't
want to further strain its resources on a seventh Transformers.
The Bumblebee gambit
Paramount might also be unwilling to proceed with Transformers 7 until the results are
in for the Bumblebee prequel, technically Transformers 6.
If it turns out to be the franchise's last hope, it's in good hands; the director is
the supremely talented Travis Knight, who delivered the magnificent Kubo and the Two
Strings.
If it bombs, that's one more reason why the studio would be right to wait and get its
Transformers house in order before sinking any more money into it.
Should it flop, that'll probably be the end of the line for the franchise as we know it.
Reboot time
Franchise reboots have become fairly common lately, and a complete Transformers do-over
would achieve a lot of things at once.
It would wipe out the absolutely bonkers backstory that's built up to this point.
It could earn a fresh start with fans, provided Paramount shows proof that they've learned
from past mistakes.
And there's even a chance critics might learn to like the series, so long as there's enough
heart, brains, and good old-fashioned fun.
All it takes is one press of the reset button, and Transformers can re-emerge as the franchise
it was always supposed to be: one every blockbuster fan on the planet can get into.