Transformers (film series)

Transformers is a series of American science fiction action films based on the toys created by Hasbro and Tomy. The first two were directed by Michael Bay, including Transformers (2007), and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), while the third, Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (2011) was directed by D. J. Caruso. A crossover with the G.I. Joe series, Transformers vs. G.I. Joe was released in 2015. With Bay directing the fourth film, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), as his last film, a Bumblebee spin-off is scheduled in 2018 and a seventh film scheduled in 2019. The series has been distributed by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks.

The series has received a mixed critical reception; critics expressed criticism on the plots, crude humor, overuse of product placements, and the lengths of the films. However, many praised the visual effects, action sequences, and music. It is currently the 9th highest-grossing film series and the 4th highest-grossing when averaged to gross per film, behind the The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

Transformers (2007)
Transformers is the first film in the series, released on July 3, 2007. It grossed $709.7 million worldwide, and garnered generally favorable reviews. It was directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman from a story by Kurtzman, Orci and John Rogers, and starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the second film in the series, released on June 24, 2009. It grossed $836.3 million worldwide, and garnered negative reviews, scoring 19% on Rotten Tomatoes to the first film's 57%. It was directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (2011)
Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye is the third film in the series, released on June 29, 2011, in 3D and IMAX 3D. It grossed $1.123 billion worldwide, and garnered mixed reviews with a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes and was better received than Revenge of the Fallen. It was directed by D. J. Caruso from a screenplay by Robert Towne, Ronald D. Moore, and Brannon Braga and starred Shia LaBeouf and Chelsey Reist.

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe (2015)
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe is a crossover with the Transformers and G.I. Joe film series, released on February 20, 2015, in 3D and IMAX 3D. It grossed $2.110 billion worldwide and received mixed reviews with 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. The crossover was directed by Marc Webb and starred Peter Cullen, Frank Welker Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shia LaBeouf.

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Transformers: The Last Knight is the fourth film in the series. Filming started in June 2016 and it is expected to be released on June 23, 2017. It is being directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan, and will star Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci.

Bumblebee spin-off (2018)
On February 12, 2016, Tom Warner, the Transformers franchise leader for Hasbro announced that the next film of the series would be released on June 8, 2018. Later it was revealed that rather than a main entry, the film will be a spin-off, starring Bumblebee.

Transformers 6 (2019)
In his February 12, 2016, announcement, Tom Warner, the Transformers franchise leader for Hasbro also stated that a sequel to Transformers: The Last Knight would be released on June 28, 2019. It is currently untitled as of now and the studio is in search for a new director for the sixth film.

Further films
As part of the writers' room collaboration, rendered by Paramount Pictures to determine the future of the franchise; a film centered around the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons, tentatively titled Transformers One, is currently in development with Ant-Man screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari attached to the film.

Expanded universe
Main articles: Transformers (film comic series) and List of Transformers video games § Games based on the film series

In addition to the films, the film series has a promotional expanded series that is set both before and after the events of the films. This includes comic books, video games, and novels. While the novels are partially based on the films themselves, and the video games aren't in the same continuity as the films, the comic books and graphic novels are in the same continuity and fill in several parts of the stories that weren't expanded on enough in the films.

Cast and characters
Main articles: List of Transformers film series characters and List of Transformers film series cast and characters

Transformers
For the first film, producer Don Murphy was planning a G.I. Joe film adaptation, but when the United States launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Hasbro suggested adapting the Transformers franchise instead. Tom DeSanto joined Murphy because he was a fan of the series. They met with comic book writer Simon Furman, and cited the Generation 1 cartoon and comics as their main influence. They made the Creation Matrix their plot device, though Murphy had it renamed because of the film series The Matrix. DeSanto chose to write the treatment from a human point of view to engage the audience, while Murphy wanted it to have a realistic tone, reminiscent of a disaster film. The treatment featured the Autobots Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, Arcee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee, and the Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave.

Steven Spielberg, a fan of the comics and toys, signed on as executive producer in 2004. John Rogers wrote the first draft, which pitted four Autobots against four Decepticons, and featured the Ark spaceship. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, fans of the cartoon, were hired to rewrite the script in February 2005. Spielberg suggested that "a boy and his car" should be the focus. This appealed to Orci and Kurtzman because it conveyed themes of adulthood and responsibility, "the things that a car represents in the United States". The characters of Sam and Mikaela were the sole point of view given in Orci and Kurtzman's first draft. The Transformers had no dialogue, as the producers feared talking robots would look ridiculous. The writers felt that even if it would look silly, not having the robots speak would betray the fanbase. The first draft also had a battle scene in the Grand Canyon. Spielberg read each of Orci and Kurtzman's drafts and gave notes for improvement. The writers remained involved throughout production, adding additional dialogue for the robots during the sound mixing (although none of this was kept in the final film, which ran fifteen minutes shorter than the initial edit). Furman's The Ultimate Guide, published by Dorling Kindersley, remained as a resource to the writers throughout production. Prime Directive was used as a fake working title. This was also the name of Dreamwave Productions' first Transformers comic book.

Michael Bay was asked to direct by Spielberg on July 30, 2005, but he dismissed the film as a "stupid toy movie". Nonetheless, he wanted to work with Spielberg, and gained a new respect for the mythology upon visiting Hasbro. Bay considered the first draft "too kiddie", so he increased the military's role in the story. The writers sought inspiration from G.I. Joe for the soldier characters, being careful not to mix the brands. Because Orci and Kurtzman were concerned the film could feel like a military recruitment commercial, they chose to make the military believe nations like Iran were behind the Decepticon attack as well as making the Decepticons primarily military vehicles. Bay based Lennox' struggle to get to the Pentagon phoneline while struggling with an unhelpful operator from a real account he was given by a soldier when working on another film.

Orci and Kurtzman experimented with numerous robots from the franchise, ultimately selecting the characters most popular among the filmmakers to form the final cast. Bay acknowledged that most of the Decepticons were selected before their names or roles were developed, as Hasbro had to start designing the toys. Some of their names were changed because Bay was upset that they had been leaked. Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were the only characters present in each version of the script. Arcee was a female Transformer introduced by Orci and Kurtzman, but she was cut because they found it difficult to explain robotic gender; Bay also disliked her motorcycle form, which he found too small. An early idea to have the Decepticons simultaneously strike multiple places around the world was also dropped, being used later in the film's sequels.

Revenge of the Fallen
For the second film, Paramount announced a late June 2009 release date for the sequel to Transformers in September 2007. A major hurdle that was overcome during the film's production was the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, as well as possible strikes by the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild. Bay began creating animatics of action sequences featuring characters rejected for the 2007 film. This would allow animators to complete sequences if the Directors Guild of America went on strike in July 2008, which ultimately did not happen. The director considered making a small project in between Transformers and its sequel, but knew "you have your baby and you don't want someone else to take it". The film was given a $200 million budget, which was $50 million more than the 2007 film, and some of the action scenes rejected for the original were written into the sequel, such as the way Optimus is reintroduced in this film. Lorenzo di Bonaventura said the studio proposed filming two sequels simultaneously, but he and Bay concurred that was not the right direction for the series.

Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman originally passed on the sequel because of a busy schedule. The studio began courting other writers in May 2007, but as they were unimpressed with their pitches, they convinced Orci and Kurtzman to return. The studio also signed on Ehren Kruger, as he impressed Bay and Hasbro president Brian Goldner with his knowledge of the Transformers mythology, and because he was friends with Orci and Kurtzman. The writing trio were paid $8 million. Screenwriting was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, but to avoid production delays the writers spent two weeks writing a treatment, which they handed in the night before the strike began, and Bay expanded the outline into a sixty-page scriptment, fleshing out the action, adding more jokes, as well as selecting the majority of new characters. The three writers spent four months finishing the screenplay while "locked" in two hotel rooms by Bay: Kruger wrote in his own room and the trio would check on each other's work twice a day.

Orci described the film's theme as "being away from home", with the Autobots contemplating living on Earth as they cannot restore Cybertron, while Sam goes to college. He wanted the focus between the robots and humans "much more evenly balanced", "the stakes [to] be higher", and more focused on the science fiction elements. Lorenzo di Bonaventura said that in total, there are around forty robots in the film, while ILM's Scott Farrar has said there are actually sixty. Orci added he wanted to "modulate" the humor more, and felt he managed the more "outrageous" jokes by balancing it with a more serious plot approach to the Transformers' mythology. Bay concurred that he wanted to please fans by making the tone darker, and that "moms will think its safe enough to bring the kids back out to the movies" despite his trademark sense of humor.

Before Transformers was released, producer DeSanto had "a very cool idea" to introduce the Dinobots, while Bay was interested in an aircraft carrier, which was dropped from the 2007 film. Orci claimed they did not incorporate these characters into Revenge of the Fallen because they could not think of a way to justify the Dinobots' choice of form, and were unable to fit in the aircraft carrier. Orci also admitted he was also dismissive of the Dinobots because he does not like dinosaurs. "I recognize I am weird in that department", he said, but he became fonder of them during filming because of their popularity with fans. He added "I couldn't see why a Transformer would feel the need to disguise himself in front of a bunch of lizards. Movie-wise, I mean. Once the general audience is fully on board with the whole thing, maybe Dinobots in the future." However, upon being asked on the subject, Michael Bay said he hated the Dinobots and they had never been in consideration for being featured in the movies.

Future and shared universe
In March 2015, Akiva Goldsman was tasked to create a "Transformers Cinematic Universe", as to oversee the development of a multi-part sequel, along with prequels and spin-off films in a "writer’s room" style brain trust. In May 2015, Deadline reported that Robert Kirkman, Zak Penn, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Jeff Pinkner, Andrew Barrer, Gabrial Ferrari, Christina Hodson, Lindsey Beer, Ken Nolan, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and Steven DeKnight will write spin-offs, potentially titled Beast Wars and Transformers One and sequels for the franchise. At least 12 films will be pitched for the "Transformers Cinematic Universe". On September 17, 2015, Deadline reported that Barrer and Ferrari will write an animated film that will explore the origins in Cybertron, with a working title Transformers One. The writer's room also resulted in the three announced Transformer films which are currently in development.