Transformers One Is A Box Office Disappointment – Is It Time To Put The Franchise To Bed?

It was supposed to be a big weekend at the box office for Paramount Pictures as "Transformers One," the brand-new, computer-animated origin story for the Autobots and Decepticaon, hit theaters. The film has been met with rave reviews, including from /Film's Rafael Motamayor, even winning over some of the biggest naysayers who had long since abandoned the franchise. Unfortunately, the animated flick was met with a muted response from moviegoers, leaving the future of the series on uncertain ground.

Director Josh Cooley's "Transformers One" opened with an estimated $25 million domestically, placing in second in a tight race as Warner Bros.' "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" won out for a third straight weekend with $26 million. In a race that tight, the placement hardly matters. What does matter is the film was expected to open with at least $35 million. The only good news here is that "Transformers One" carries a relatively modest $75 million budget. That's where the good news ends, however.

The film also opened soft overseas, pulling in just $14 million from quite a few territories. Yes, it still has to open in quite a few more countries, but a $39 million debut for a franchise that used to be amongst Hollywood's most reliable is disconcerting. One must now ask: Is it time to put the "Transformers" franchise to bed? At the very least, a long break seems to be in order.

"Transformers One" serves as an origin story focused on Optimus Prime and Megatron years and years ago on Cybertron. The voice cast is stacked, with Chris Hemsworth ("Thor") and Brian Tyree Henry ("Eternals") leading the way as Optimus and Megatron, respectively. The ensemble also includes Scarlett Johansson ("Black Widow"), Keegan-Michael Key ("The Super Mario Bros. Movie"), Steve Buscemi ("Hotel Transylvania"), Laurence Fishburne ("The Matrix"), and Jon Hamm ("Mad Men").

Basically, Paramount stacked the deck with A-listers. And, by all accounts, the studio made a great movie. It carries an A CinemaScore to go along with the excellent reviews. Everything suggests that audiences who did show up really liked what they saw. The problem is that not enough people showed up, as the final results didn't come close to the already somewhat modest tracking numbers. What we're seeing are clear signs of franchise fatigue.

Last year's live-action "Rise of the Beasts" also underperformed, bringing in $439 million worldwide. That made it the lowest-grossing live-action "Transformers" movie to date. Even the very well-liked "Bumblebee" underperformed a bit in 2018 when it failed to cross the $500 million mark globally. It also made an outsized amount of its money in China, which this franchise can no longer depend on. All of this to say, the signs of wear and tear on this property have been showing for some time now. It may be too little too late for these good movies to save the day.

Some will point to last year's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," which opened in a very similar range against a $70 million budget en route to $180.5 million worldwide. That movie also sold a f*** ton of toys, which was part of the equation. "Transformers One" will probably move some merch as well. The difference here is that the ceiling for the "Ninja Turtles" theatrically was never nearly as high as it has consistently been for "Transformers" before 2017's "The Last Knight" served as something of a final straw for many viewers.

That's something Paramount and Hasbro must consider here. Whereas "Mutant Mayhem" felt like a revitalization for the Heroes in a Half-Shell after several years away from the big screen, things are only diminishing further for Optimus Prime and the gang. The hope was that Paramount was going to make the "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" of the "Transformers" franchise. That's not how it's shaking out and it's difficult to imagine a logical path forward. The "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" crossover film has never felt riskier than it does right now, that's for sure.

Naturally, "Transformers One" tees up the ball for a sequel with a post-credits scene. Unfortunately, it does seem like that would be a risky proposition. Maybe the sequel could break out after audiences catch up with the first one at home, but that's what Paramount and Hasbro would be banking on. That also seems like more of a hail mary, with the juice perhaps not worth the squeeze. Instead, it might be time to put the franchise to bed for a bit and give audiences a chance to miss the Robots in Disguise before bringing them back down the line.

"Transformers One" is in theaters now.