Hasbro has announced that last year’sBumblebeeserves as the official reboot of theTransformersfranchise. Until now it was unclear as to how Travis Knight’s critically-acclaimedBumblebeeconnected to Michael Bay’s previous fiveTransformersfilms, but it appears that Hasbro has finally set the franchise on a bright new path.Transformersfans should rest easy in knowing that the notorious Michael Bay stamp on the franchise could very well become a thing of the past.
According to theTransformerspopular fansite TFW2005, Hasbro announced during the New York Toy Fair thatBumblebeeis the beginning of “a new storytelling universe.” What that means exactly remains to be seen, but ifBumblebeeserves as an example for futureTransformersfilms, it’s probably a good move. Despite the recent reboot not fairing as well commercially as pastTransformersfilms,Bumblebeestill hit incredibly well with both critics and audiences alike.
While Michael Bay made theTransformersmovie franchise one of the most successful in history, all five of his installments werenever received well by critics. He left the franchise after 2017’sTransformers: The Last Knight, a film that featured some of the franchise’s most mindless, incoherent storytelling to date. There’s no doubt Bay can handle huge action sequences, but it’s clear now that many diehard fans of the franchise were never quite satisfied with his interpretations. The director seemed to always be much more interested in blowing audiences away with spectacular action rather than staying close to the franchise’s cherished source material. And as he continued with the series, each installment became further and further away from what fans really wanted. So hopefully Hasbro will continue to head down the direction of staying truer to the spirit ofTransformersthan they have with previous installments.
Thankfully Knight ended Bay’s reign of terror bybringing the fun, light-hearted Bumblebeeto the big screen. Telling the origin of how the iconic yellow Transformer came to Earth, the prequel presented a wonderful new vision to the troubled franchise. The film brought us back to the supposed beginning of the heated conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, which is where Bay first started the blockbuster franchise. Knight showed thatTransformerscould actually become a grounded yet still exciting series - something that most fans had probably given up a long time ago.
Bumblebeeproducer Lorenzo di Boneventura revealed there areplans to make a sequel to the film, but it’s hard to say exactly what installment will be coming next. It’s also a mystery ifBumblebeestar Hailee Steinfeld will be returning for future films. There’s plenty of exciting new avenues the newly-rebooted franchise could take, so we will just have to wait and see how Hasbro decides to move forward. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available. This news comes fromTFW2005.
