Filming Has Wrapped on TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS!

Yesterday, it was revealed on social media that principal photography has wrapped on Transformers: Rise of the Beasts...which is a direct sequel to the 2018 Transformers spin-off flick Bumblebee.

In this movie, there is no direct war between the Autobots and Decepticons, but a conflict that arises between the Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons after they come to Earth.

Optimus Prime, once again voiced by the venerable Peter Cullen, learns to become a leader of the Autobot resistance as he finds himself caught in the middle of this robotic alien war.

Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and John Cena will not reprise their roles from Bumblebee in this new movie. Instead, Rise of the Beasts features a new cast that includes Ron Perlman (who voices Optimus Primal), Luna Lauren Velez, Dominique Fishback and Anthony Ramos.

Lorne Balfe, who created the music for 2017's The Lego Batman Movie as well as this year's Marvel film Black Widow, will compose the score for Rise of the Beasts.

Directed by Steven Caple Jr. (who helmed 2018's Creed II and 2016's The Land), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts arrives in theaters nationwide on June 24, 2022.

On This Day in 2011: Remembering TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON...

10 years ago today, I watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon—the third installment in Michael Bay's action-packed film franchise based on the classic Hasbro toys—at the local AMC 20 theater. Dark of the Moon is my favorite movie of 2011...even though I'm still bummed that Megan Fox got herself fired from the film due to poorly-worded comments about Bay in a 2009 interview (it was Executive Producer Steven Spielberg who demanded her removal after she compared Bay to Hitler), and the fact that Shockwave didn't live up to his intimidating appearance that was the centerpiece of Dark of the Moon's pre-release marketing campaign. There isn't one Autobot that Shockwave killed in this Transformers movie, which makes him as poor a villain as The Fallen—the title character of 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. (I'll also point out that the two of them went out like chumps to Optimus Prime...who decimated both of their faces before they were defeated at the hands of the Autobot leader.) At least Bay and his writers corrected this flaw with the badass antagonist Lockdown, from 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction.



In terms of the good things about Dark of the Moon, Steve Jablonsky's music score for this flick was absolutely top-notch (Listen to "It's Our Fight" on YouTube below), the CGI was amazing as usual, and the portrayal of Sentinel Prime—through Leonard Nimoy's voice work for the character and his design—was awesome. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was commendable as Carly, though as I said in the previous paragraph, I wanted to see closure between Megan Fox's Mikaela and Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky in this movie. I liked how the Apollo 11 Moon landing played an important role in this film, and that NASA's Kennedy Space Center itself was featured in Dark of the Moon. Regarding the future, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts—a direct sequel to the 2018 spinoff flick Bumblebee—hits theaters nationwide in 2022. Carry on!

Quick Review: BUMBLEBEE...

I watched Bumblebee at the theater earlier today, and needless to say, it was a terrific film! Well done to Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena and everyone else involved.

I'm a big fan of Michael Bay's live-action films (well, at least three of 'em: 2007's Transformers, 2011's Dark of the Moon and 2014's Age of Extinction), and I want to point out that Travis Knight needs to direct a few more Transformers movies of his own.

That opening scene on Cybertron: A-MAZING!

5 out of 5 stars. *****

BUMBLEBEE Update: Three Classic Transformers Go Old-School in the Upcoming Film...

Sometime tomorrow, Paramount Pictures will release the newest trailer for Bumblebee...which arrives in theaters nationwide on December 21. Along with new footage of the yellow Autobot himself, as well as his human sidekick Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), the latest Bumblebee trailer will also introduce us to earlier incarnations of Optimus Prime (once again voiced by Peter Cullen) as well as Soundwave and his Decepticon minion, Ravage (the latter was last seen in 2009's Revenge of the Fallen). As you can see in the three screenshots posted here, these earlier incarnations are a lot more faithful to the Generation 1 (G1) cartoon and toy designs that fans all know and love.



Seeing as how Bumblebee is part of the canon for the Michael Bay-directed film franchise, it's interesting how Optimus has his G1 truck mode on Cybertron in Bumblebee, but had a more alien robotic form when he, Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchet land on Earth in 2007's Transformers. Oh well. It's clearly obvious that director Travis Knight is willing to overlook that aspect of the live-action movies' storyline to give us a more faithful depiction of the Transformers in his flick. Carry on!

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#BumblebeeMovie Trailer out tomorrow pic.twitter.com/OWW7KX2nNt

— Paramount India (@ParamountPicsIN) September 23, 2018

The new trailer for #Bumblebee arrives tomorrow. You won't want to miss this. pic.twitter.com/cYOnBuw7du

— Paramount Pictures (@ParamountUK) September 23, 2018

BUMBLEBEE...

Earlier today, Paramount Pictures released the teaser trailer for the Transformers spin-off film Bumblebee...out in theaters nationwide on December 21. Unlike the five previous Transformers movies—which were all directed by Michael Bay—Bumblebee is helmed by Travis Knight, who previously directed the 2016 animated film Kubo and the Two Strings. Leading the cast of the Autobot flick are Oscar-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena, as well as Martin Short, Vanessa Ross, John Ortiz, Kenneth Choi and Peter Cullen (who's once again voicing Optimus Prime). Bumblebee was supposed to be the first of various spin-off movies that would form Transformers' new cinematic universe (a la the DC, Marvel and Star Wars franchises), but in the wake of The Last Knight's 'underwhelming' box office last year (it made $605.4 million worldwide, while Age of Extinction and Dark of the Moon both earned $1.1 billion globally in 2014 and 2011, respectively), is unfortunately no longer the case.



It was refreshing to hear a voice-over by the late Bernie Mac—who played Bobby Bolivia in the first Transformers movie—at the beginning of the trailer. Optimus Prime aside, Bumblebee is the most popular Autobot in the entire cinematic franchise...and those memorable quotes from the 2007 film help convey the feel that the Bumblebee movie will go back to what made the original live-action Transformers film so endearing in the first place: a human buys a car that he (now she) suddenly discovers is actually a giant alien robot that the person eventually befriends and goes on many adventures with. And in case you're wondering, Dario Marianelli (who worked on such flicks as 2015's Everest and 2005's V for Vendetta) is scoring the music for Bumblebee, not long-time Transformers composer Steve Jablonsky.

You can view the preview itself at the very bottom of this entry.

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