There have so far been six entries in Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. Before Bumblebee, Bay had directed each of the entries himself.
Bay directed Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Transformers: The Last Knight. By the time his fifth film was released, the once exciting live-action series had grown stale with explosions.
John Cena (The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker) and Hailee Steinfeld (Hawkeye, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) led Bumblebee to revigorate the franchise. Whether it was the new direction taken or the fact that there was a new director on the job - many fans were pleasantly surprised by the film.
Luckily, the next film in the franchise also steers in a different direction, and it too isn't directed by Bay, though he remains a producer on the title. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the seventh title, is not only set to introduce Optimus Primal but the inimitable Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Blade 2) will be playing him.
Kids of the '90s immediately recognize Optimus Primal due to his connection to Beast Wars. Not only will we see the Maximals, but the Predacons and Terrorcons will also be present in the upcoming film, which also happens to be set in the '90s, setting the new entry as a prequel to everything else established in that live-action universe.
What do you guys think? Are you interested in this fresh approach to the franchise, or is it too little and too late to save it?
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will roll out to theaters on June 24th, 2022.