‘Bumblebee’ Officially Reboots the ‘Transformers’ Universe
Last year, Travis Knight’s Bumblebee became easily the best-reviewed movie in the Transformers franchise. Now, a report from New York Toy Fair confirms that the film is officially a franchise reboot, rather than a prequel to the five Michael Bay-directed films.
By focusing on the relationship between Bumblebee (Dylan O’Brien) and Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), Knight breathed new life into a series that many felt had run it’s course following 2017’s The Last Knight, a movie which ultimately failed at the box office. At the time that Bumblebee screened for critics, The Guardian‘s reviewer Phil Hoad wrote; “In a better, truer cinematic universe, Travis Knight would have been in charge of the Transformers franchise all along.”
Now it seems he might get his wish.
Transformers World 2005 was on hand for yesterday’s Hasbro Product Presentation at the New York Toy Fair. During the panel, Hasbro confirmed that Bumblebee marked the start of “a new storytelling universe.”
This makes a lot of sense. While Bumblebee contained plenty of nods to the existing movies, it also doesn’t truly fit within the continuity of the previous films, with several events that outright contradict them. And it seems more references to the existing universe were cut during production:
I wonder if this decision was made when test scores showed promise, as when I saw it a year ago there were quite a few direct references to Bay’s original – we even saw Megatron frozen in ice. https://t.co/AmRFG6f8K5
— ViewerAnon (@ViewerAnon) 17 February 2019
Whilst this tweet should be taken strictly as a rumor, ViewerAnon has previously proven to be legitimate. Given the increasing complexity of the previous continuity, along with diminishing box office returns, Bumblebee‘s success is the perfect time to wipe the slate clean with a fresh take on the franchise.
And that future is already starting to take shape. Late last month Deadline reported that “there’s a sequel in development”, with series producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura noting that Bumblebee had succeeding in bringing “people back who had left the franchise” as well as bringing in a new audience.
Bumblebee is due for release on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, and DVD on April 2, 2019. The film will be released on Digital HD on March 19, 2019.
Chris is a lifelong fan of Disney, Star Wars and super heroes who can’t quite believe this golden age of movies and TV we’re living in. Having written blogs dedicated to Disney’s Aladdin musical and Star Wars Celebration, Chris is excited to be part of the MNN team.
