Rise Of The Beasts Is Officially The Lowest-Grossing Live-Action Transformers Movie Ever

For years, the live-action "Transformers" movie franchise's box office numbers appeared to have a reverse correlation with Rotten Tomatoes scores: the more scathing reviews a "Transformers" movie got, the more tickets it would sell. This was held up as proof that (depending on your perspective) either snooty film critics are out of touch with modern moviegoers, or modern moviegoers will watch any old trash as long as it's loud and action-heavy and has characters they recognize.

Neither of these conclusions are really fair. Director Michael Bay, for all his faults, does a great explosion and also perfected the art of the 360 spinning hero shot. Sometimes the world needs a loud movie with robots that will entertain kids who aren't really paying attention to the plot. And film critics can love trash just as much as the next person. Even The New Yorker, a publication so snooty that its mascot is a man wearing a top hat and brandishing a monocle, published a review opining that, "at its intermittent and fleeting best, 'Transformers: The Last Knight' offers more to see and more to startle than do many films by auteurs of overt artistic ambition and accomplishment." 

Sadly for The New Yorker, the era of "Bayformers" has been winding down since peaking with 2011's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and 2014's "Transformers: Age of Extinction," both of which joined the elite billion-dollar club at the worldwide box office. This year's entry, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" was directed by Steven Caple Jr. rather than Bay himself, who moved back into a producer-only role after "The Last Knight." "Rise of the Beasts" finally departed domestic theaters last week after a run of just over two months. With the totals tallied, it's officially the lowest-grossing live-action "Transformers" movie at the worldwide box office, grossing $436.6 million against a production budget of $195 million. 

Between the creativity and the lack of transparency in Hollywood accounting, box office analysis is an inexact science. That caveat in place, it looks like "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" fell short of breaking even in theaters. Of its $436.6 million worldwide total, only 36 percent ($157 million) came from the domestic box office, with the rest coming from international markets. 

Studios typically reap a smaller percentage of ticket sales in foreign markets, and that's especially true of China, where a trade agreement dictates that U.S. studios receive only 25 percent of box office revenue. $91 million in ticket sales at the Chinese box office accounts for more than 20 percent of the global total for "Transformers: Rise of The Beasts," and only around $22 million of that would have found its way back to Paramount Pictures. Factoring in marketing costs and the division of revenue, it's doubtful that "Rise of the Beasts" paid for itself during its theatrical run.

Still, it's not all bad news. At the domestic box office, "Rise of the Beasts" is only the second-lowest grossing live-action "Transformers" movie, with spinoff/prequel "Bumblebee" coming out slightly lower — though thanks to a considerably smaller budget and strong overseas performance, "Bumblebee" still managed to be a modest box office hit. 

Like many movies that fell short of breaking even but didn't outright bomb, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" could now make its way into the golden fields of profitability through the path of home media. It's been available to buy on VOD for a few weeks, and will hit Blu-ray and DVD on October 10, 2023.