Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
My theory is they never had a finished script again. Maybe Paramount executives looked at ROTF's box office numbers and decided that they didn't need those striking writers after all.
There was another strike during TLK's production?
Honest question. I wasn't in the loop on such news at the time.
No. I suspect they tried to blunt the power of future strikes by reducing the role of writers. I don't think DOTM or AOE or TLK had complete scripts. I think ROTF convinced them that they don't need one.
I see.
Although, TLK was the movie that had the big writer's room thing at Paramount.
But that was just a glorified brainstorming session. None of those ideas became a complete script, and it shows. TLK is a collage of individual movie ideas loosely stitched together without a guiding vision.
Hey! Rise of the Beasts is shaping up to be the best domestic performing Transformers film since Age of Extinction in 2014! Despite a slate of new releases, and dropping to number 8 on the charts, Transformers only saw a 32% revenue decline and still pulled another $5 million. The film is guaranteed to pass $150 million domestically, and while early numbers have been soft internationally, it is looking like the film should get close to $500million grand total. That would be better than Bumblebee, and about on par with The Last Knight. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing all things considered.
In fact, outside of the initial second weekend drop of 66%, drops for the film have been pretty solid, staying in the 40% range. It might not be the Uber hit Paramount would have liked, but it’s definitely holding its own better than many of the tent pole releases this summer. And again, Paramount may be amicable to this performance depending on the backend performance of the digital release, disc sales and how well Hasbro ends up doing with the line
In fact, outside of the initial second weekend drop of 66%, drops for the film have been pretty solid, staying in the 40% range. It might not be the Uber hit Paramount would have liked, but it’s definitely holding its own better than many of the tent pole releases this summer. And again, Paramount may be amicable to this performance depending on the backend performance of the digital release, disc sales and how well Hasbro ends up doing with the line
I mean, just watching TLK from beginning to end is a big ask in itself, actually remembering all of it is to go beyond.
I mean, we don't know what sort of contract he had...
I mean, granted, the trajectory wasn't quite the same, but...
A young man I work with (because I’m old AF at this point) binged Age of Extinction and Last Knight back to back. I warned him not to, but he was foolish.
He did not enjoy the experience and still can’t keep the two films separate in conversation. I guess that’s what happens when you watch cinematic diarrhea for 5 hours straight…
I HAVE convinced him to watch Rise of the Beasts and Bumblebee, rightfully convincing him that both are WAY better.
This was a surprisingly good weekend for ROTB. It is slowly losing theaters, but it's really not too bad a drop at this point. There are newer movies that are getting dropped faster, and not just The Flash.
If we're comparing to TLK, ROTB played in 2,475 theaters this weekend and brought in $5,000,000 (that's certainly an estimate, and likely to be revised). In TLK's 5th weekend, it played in 1,025 theaters and brought in $1,169,678. Note that TLk opened in more theaters than ROTB did. They just dropped it hard.
TLK really hurt this movie. ROTB didn't open in as many theaters as it clearly deserved. It has been a respectable performer in the theaters it did get.
If we're comparing to TLK, ROTB played in 2,475 theaters this weekend and brought in $5,000,000 (that's certainly an estimate, and likely to be revised). In TLK's 5th weekend, it played in 1,025 theaters and brought in $1,169,678. Note that TLk opened in more theaters than ROTB did. They just dropped it hard.
TLK really hurt this movie. ROTB didn't open in as many theaters as it clearly deserved. It has been a respectable performer in the theaters it did get.
Some more concept art has been collected by TFW. More explorations of Mirage's look, including different head and body shapes. More stuff with Bloodhound and key frame visuals. Probably the most interesting are numerous design explorations of Scourge, including a number of different "masks". Two that stood out to me were one where there was clear influence from The Fallen (going back to the corrupted Prime origins for this character concept), and another sporting a very "Tarn-esque" Decepticon mask. Perhaps a throwback to concept material where the Terrorcons were all formerly Decepticons, and this would have emphasized that?
news.tfw2005.com
Film is out on Digital Purchase and Premium Rental. I went ahead and bought, and jumped into the Bonus/Deleted Scenes and had a few takeaways:
-I wish they had retained the Transit encounter. Not only does it help establish continuity, but also contextualizes Optimus Prime in this film. It casts Optimus Prime as someone trying to protect his friends while fearing both Decepticon hunters, but also humans after what happened with Sector 7, and it puts his general hostility into a more understandable position for the rest of the film. Plus, it was a nice action sequence that was CLEARLY far along, so it seems a bit wasteful to scrap such a seemingly expensive set piece.
-Originally, the cavern sequence featured the Maximals, not the Terrorcons. I'm glad they changed things here, as this sequence puts the Maximals in a more antagonistic position before the later meet up. Had this remained, I think it would have been harder for audiences to accept the Maximals as heroes, when we had this extensive sequence where they tried to kill the main human characters. The trailer shot of Rhinox comes from this sequence, though as it is included in this selection, the sequence is less finished that the trailer.
-I'm SO glad they opted not to do that BS finish with Optimus and Unicron. Probably the wisest move was to wrap the film on an upbeat note (even if Mirage's revival is a mid-credits scene). Not only does it retread on what Age of Extinction/Last Knight did, but it would end up an open cliffhanger, that I think audiences are tired of.
Overall, the changes from earlier versions seemed to tighten up the film's pacing, lighten up the mood of the film, and by making this reasonably self contained, it prevents the stigma of having unrealized sequel bait. They probably made a good call on these, though, I still wish that Transit fight had been retained. Might have been a bit excessive coming off the new opening with Unicron, though.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Concept Art & Other Material – Round Up #03
Several artists who have worked in the Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts creative process have started to share some interesting concept art and previous material of the movie. We have collected some of them for you to check them our in just one place. This time we have very nice material...
news.tfw2005.com
Film is out on Digital Purchase and Premium Rental. I went ahead and bought, and jumped into the Bonus/Deleted Scenes and had a few takeaways:
-I wish they had retained the Transit encounter. Not only does it help establish continuity, but also contextualizes Optimus Prime in this film. It casts Optimus Prime as someone trying to protect his friends while fearing both Decepticon hunters, but also humans after what happened with Sector 7, and it puts his general hostility into a more understandable position for the rest of the film. Plus, it was a nice action sequence that was CLEARLY far along, so it seems a bit wasteful to scrap such a seemingly expensive set piece.
-Originally, the cavern sequence featured the Maximals, not the Terrorcons. I'm glad they changed things here, as this sequence puts the Maximals in a more antagonistic position before the later meet up. Had this remained, I think it would have been harder for audiences to accept the Maximals as heroes, when we had this extensive sequence where they tried to kill the main human characters. The trailer shot of Rhinox comes from this sequence, though as it is included in this selection, the sequence is less finished that the trailer.
-I'm SO glad they opted not to do that BS finish with Optimus and Unicron. Probably the wisest move was to wrap the film on an upbeat note (even if Mirage's revival is a mid-credits scene). Not only does it retread on what Age of Extinction/Last Knight did, but it would end up an open cliffhanger, that I think audiences are tired of.
Overall, the changes from earlier versions seemed to tighten up the film's pacing, lighten up the mood of the film, and by making this reasonably self contained, it prevents the stigma of having unrealized sequel bait. They probably made a good call on these, though, I still wish that Transit fight had been retained. Might have been a bit excessive coming off the new opening with Unicron, though.
I mean, it's the SAME people footage from the final film. Instead of running from Freezer, they start running from Cheetor before Rhinox tries to gore them. Not a flattering first impression.
With the glut of Optimus Primal figures released for this film so far, I'm surprised this hasn't been done officially.
Price seems legit...
gundamit.com
[Pre-Order] Killerbody 1/1 KB20069-57 Official Licensed Transformers Rise of the Beasts Mirage Wearable Helmet w/ Voice Changer
Killerbody has a new product called The Transformers Rise of the Beasts Mirage Wearable Helmet. Reflects the character's scale details and features electronic functions.
gundamit.com
That's definitely an issue as well.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about the big CGI fest against a horde of mooks at the end of Rise of the Beasts (and practically every MCU film) in terms of how much did that cost to make, and what did it actually add to the movie. It was basically an excuse to show off the good guys doing cool team up movies (like Arcee riding Rhinox) but that's it. There's really no tension there, nobody is getting taken out by Freezer or Scorponok. Its just noise.
Wouldn't it have been better if it was just the 8 Autobots/Maximals versus the 3 Terrorcons, and the Terrorcons actually hold their own because they're supposed to be super powerful instead of getting taken out by one or two bots because they need to end the movie?
I get ya. But there's also the fact that Hasbro would like these movies to advertise as much product as possible, and using vast armies is definite way to do that, even if the story suffers as a result.
Plus, there's the fact that big scaled army battles have been ingrained into the brand since it first launched with 18 good guys (not counting Bumper, the Kronoform toys, the Powerdashers, or the Omnibots, which would make 28 good guys) and 10 bad guys in 1984.
Stacked numbers of troops are something that a lot of people have come to expect, and CG limitations like we had in Beast Wars (which led to its great writing) have diminished since those days.
Plus, there's the fact that big scaled army battles have been ingrained into the brand since it first launched with 18 good guys (not counting Bumper, the Kronoform toys, the Powerdashers, or the Omnibots, which would make 28 good guys) and 10 bad guys in 1984.
Stacked numbers of troops are something that a lot of people have come to expect, and CG limitations like we had in Beast Wars (which led to its great writing) have diminished since those days.
DOTM handled it well. It's the mook slaughter fest Hollywood thinks we want, but there's enough named Decepticons to give it some structure. It is possible to track the Autobots' progress as the tide shifts one major Decepticon at a time.
What's a "mook"? In Japan, it's what we call a "M(agazine)-(b)OOK".