It is a good time to be a Transformers fan. Not only do we have Transformers: Rise of the Beasts coming this June, we also have a brand new animated film, directed by Toy Story 4‘s Josh Cooley, that is expected to arrive in cinemas on July 19th, 2024. Details have been incredibly scarce since its announcement in January last year, but an interview with Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura via Collider finally revealed some new and exciting information.
The major thing we learned is that this animated movie will be set on the Transformers’ homeworld of Cybertron and will dive into the origin stories of both Optimus Prime- formally known as Orion Pax, and Megatron- who was originally a gladiator in the Kaon fighting pits. If you’d like to know more about the history of the Transformers before the film, we highly recommend reading Alex Irvine’s Transformers: Exodus– It’s an absolutely brilliant read.
Lorenzo also seemingly confirmed that this animated film would act an “origin story of all Transformers.” It’ll be interesting to see how it tackles that considering just how vast the Transformers mythology is. Regardless, we can’t wait to fully explore Cybertron on the big screen. That’s something we’ve never had the chance to do, so the prospect of spending the entire film on Cybertron is beyond thrilling.
The thing we are curious about is the animation style. With no current news, we’re intrigued to see what sort of style this new film leans into. Will it be the 3D animation used in the Netflix trilogy, or will it attempt to recreate the aesthetic from the original show?
“I could tell you really important parts of this story, which is more than a tease. This is something we were trying to do; we debated a lot about it in live action, and it just was financially impossible to do, which is, the origin story of young Megatron and young Optimus. If you know the origin, they started as friends, and over time things devolved for them and they ended up on two sides. So we’re telling the young Optimus and the young Megatron story. We really are telling the origin story of all Transformers, both what they were at the beginning of it, to how they grow, to how they grow apart.”
Di Bonaventura went on to say that he believes the unravelling story will become a trilogy of films, referring to it as a “natural trilogy”. Whether the other installments’ existence depends on the success of this first film remains to be seen, but it appears as though they have the story somewhat mapped out already.
“Because we’re doing an animation, we’re allowed to really go all out. If you tried to make this live-action, it would probably be a billion-dollar movie or something.”
When asked about what this animated film will focus on, di Bonaventura decided to give us more than just a tease…
“You’re going to see a lot of the origins of the society, and what broke it apart. The analogy for me is a bit like Krypton when you saw the planet falling apart, and all that. We’re not there for a short time, we’re there the entire time of the movie, we’re on Cybertron, but we are in the challenge that, if you know the lore, they begin to question the hierarchy of how their society has gotten stratified, and how the common man doesn’t have the voice, entirely, that they want to have”.
“We’re following very true to the origin story of it, and so it’s really fun, too, because I’ve gotten to see some of it – it’s not fully executed by any stretch of the imagination, but hearing Optimus and Megatron not as who we know them as, which we see their maturation in this experience. So, in a sense, you’re hearing a different character because you’re hearing them before they have matured.”
You can check out the full interview over at Collider. If you love Transformers as much as we do, then you’ll love the entire interview. It’s incredibly illuminating and it has really gotten us excited for the future.
We’ve been hit with a double whammy of Transformers news today, and we could not be happier. A brand new trailer for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will arrive on 27th April. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will be unleashed in cinemas on June 9th, 2023. Don’t forget to check out more from the world of Transformers right here. While we wait for the new trailer, you can revisit the official teaser which got us all hyped for more Transforming action.
Days until Transformers: Rise of the Beasts– 49 Days
The upcoming sequel from Paramount Pictures is directed by Steven Caple Jr and stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, and Luna Lauren Velez. In addition to that, the legend that is Peter Cullen will be back to voice the great Optimus Prime alongside Ron Perlman who will voice Optimus Primal, a transforming gorilla and leader of the Maximals.
The cast also includes Peter Dinklage (Scourge), Liza Koshy (Arcee), John DiMaggio (Stratosphere), David Sobolov (Rhinox/Battletrap), Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (Nightbird), Cristo Fernández (Wheeljack), and Tobe Nwigwe (Reek), Michelle Yeoh (Airazor), and Pete Davidson (Mirage).
