Forbes business magazine is looking into the fact how Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers Live Action Movies became money-spinners and how much of an impact their content brought in.
“[T]hat’s not to say that kids of all ages/generations don’t still watch the various incarnations of the Transformers animated television shows (I’m told Beast Wars was quite good). But there is a pretty decent chance that when most people think of said properties, they think of the films first and the related content second.
And yeah, in 2017, Paramount/Viacom Inc.’s Transformers is known as much (if not more so) for the Michael Bay-directed blockbusters as it is for the earliest incarnation of said brand. The first Transformers turns ten this year, and I will argue that it was something of a groundbreaking blockbuster in that it was a nostalgia-driven “kid film” arguably targeted at adults. And its last two (3D-enhanced) films topped $1 billion worldwide despite sliding domestic totals ($353m and $245m in 2011 and 2014). While The Last Knight may mark another domestic downturn when it opens on June 23rd, overseas may pick up the slack. I would argue that the films are now more popular and more well known than the original source material. Now even if there was no source material, the long, sprawling, candy-colored, metal-crunching, carnage-filled action films filled with giant robots fighting each other, as they turn into cars and planes, alongside ridiculously attractive humans would have caught on around the world. Without getting into critical discussions, the Transformers films are very appealing for a worldwide cinematic audience even if you’ve never heard of the action figures.
Putting aside for a moment that movies on the scale of Transformers and (especially) Pirates of the Caribbean were less common when said franchises first began than they are today, both long-running success stories show the promise (and often false hope) of making a movie out of something that wasn’t initially a movie. It’s not just that the Transformers movies and the Pirates movies made a lot of money. It’s that, 10-14 years later, I would argue the movie versions of these popular brands have surpassed the original variations in the pop culture zeitgeist. That’s… not unimpressive.”
Check out the full article at Forbes.
MnemonicSyntax
The thing with the Romeo and Juliet law is also a natural reaction if the same scenario played out in real life. Angry dad upset older dude is dating his 17 year old daughter.
"Well… the law says it's okay… right here."
Cade's counter reaction was genuine too.
TFXProtector
Most of the cringey delivery came from Mikaela, a few bits from Sam. The service members were automatically excused because they were real service members and not actors, so I was perfectly fine with them and understood their canned performances.
As for the Romeo & Juliet thing, they at least explained it without just glossing over it with a bunch of "HAW HAW! HIS DAUGHTER'S DATING A PERVE!" doesn't make it less "Seriously? This needed to be a thing???" but at least they didn't turn it into a joke.
John TheDestroyer
The only thing that has ever bothered me in these movies was a few lines of cringy or poorly delivered dialog here and there. I'm just gonna say it, that whole Romeo Juliet thing in AoE really didn't even bother me that much.
TFXProtector
Huh. I can't say you're wrong, at all. Perhaps it's not a direction everyone likes, but you're right that the movies have gone in a direction we never expected.
Perhaps that's the problem. Perhaps we're so used to formulas that when a big name takes a chance and does it's own thing, it doesn't sit well with us.
Maybe the stupid humor and over the top ridiculousness has a place, after all.
Food for thought.
Lord Tron
I don't think people actually have taken a look at just what the movies have done, both from a narrative standpoint and character regarding certain ones at least. I'll try not to make this to sound like an insult to other franchises since that's not my intentions. TF does a lot of things that even iconic franchises haven't done for one thing it's not afraid to break the status quo. I love Alien and Terminator but Alien has been doing the government trying to weaponize the Xenomorphs plot for 40 years, in literally 40 years we never touched on the Alien mythology and instead kept repeating the same idea again and again. Terminator has been going in circles as well. There's a very intriguing narrative here but we never reach it because terminator always slides back to the terminator trying to kill the Connors and the chase to protect them.
These are iconic franchises that have gone nowhere. Even SW has become stuck in the status quo. The TF movies actually move forward the status quo shake up from ROTF and DOTM to AOE is huge almost no franchise has shattered the status quo like that. The narrative and story between the two races actually moves forward events changing and effecting things, building to the war between the two races. Could you imagine if after Dark nothing changed nest kept doing what they did and the cons just returned with another plan no worse for wear, if Chicago meant nothing? That's pretty much every iconic franchise nothing changes the world doesn't change we never delve into actual ideas or explore the mythology.
Optimus in these four movies has been through more of a journey than some of the most iconic characters of cinema history. The narrative has come further than SW ever did. TF has exceeded many of the most iconic franchises in too many ways to count, it shouldn't live in infamy it should be recognized for taking it's narrative and mythology further in ten years than the most iconic franchises did in thirty.
STARBLAST
Best case scenario is them being like the '83 Hercules movie or they end up on MST3K type show and live on in infamy like Manos.
Livingdeaddan
Should have been…
Gordon_4
Which is a shame, because I really think they could have been sci-fi action classics, in another luckier universe. Oh well, paths not traveled I guess.
pilot00
You…you….I saw what you did there. I admit you had me worried for a minute
Ash from Carolina
Only problem is Animated and Prime ended so the alternatives have gotten to the slim pickings category. Instead of always having to look back to say hey Beast Wars was great it would be nice to have something to look forward to that wasn't just hey the Hasbro sculptors really did a great job.
It would be nice if we could get a situation where the films and cartoons were attempting to make everyone happy instead of just we will make this demographic happy but ignore this other demographic. It's not like Transformers hasn't threaded the needle before even if you can't make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.
ZapRowsdower
Holy sh*t!!!
That was arguably the most accurate, by certain standards, look at the Transformers franchise as enhanced, from certain points of views, by Michael Bay! Many people could say that the Bay movies have surpassed ALL TF MEDIA combined, when looking at it from specific constraints, and that adults were possibly targeted over children in a, some would say, kid-focused property! I venture forth that Bay's TF movie revolutionized the entire movie industry, from certain polls, and that Hollywood as a whole owes him a great debt of gratitude, if you look at it from a global point of view (not domestically).
pilot00
I catch your drift.
MnemonicSyntax
It's a "necessary evil." Usually means there are negative parts of said item or subject; however, the positive parts are more of a detriment.
pilot00
I wouldnt call 'evil' a taste preference for sure.
MnemonicSyntax
This I can agree with. Kudos.
Heliblade
I think we can all agree, at the least, that the movies are a necessary evil. Sure they will never be considered sci-fi classics, not now or 50 years in the future, but they DID renew interest in Transformers for the public and breathed new life into the series. Without the movies, we wouldn\'t have Animated or Prime or the better parts of the IDW comic. Let\'s all at least be grateful for that, whether you love it or hate it.
pilot00
Remind me again how many years has it been since the first MP and how many the movies got?
MnemonicSyntax
Alright, well. Another one bites the dust.
pilot00
You will come for the movies. You will stay for the old content. Objective achieved. Your fate has been sealed. Resistance if futile. Now Kneel before Galvatron. The G1 Galvatron, with Welkers voice.
STARBLAST
People keep saying that IDW as if it's some kind of example of G1 still existing. It's not.
IDW is as far away from G1 as Animated or the movies. The stories, characters, designs have almost nothing in common with G1 and 90% of G1 fans LOATHE IDW as if it murdered their dog and used it's corpse to set their house on fire. They are their own little universe with their own set of fans that don't really interact with the rest of the fandom at all.
The toys are just a few bones Hasbro throws at the fans. if they truly cared about G1 they would've made a new G1 inspired cartoon or a direct to DVD movie or anything. But they do not. Hell hasbro doesn't even import most of the MPs. The 3rd party is a reaction to how little Hasbro care about G1 that the fandom had to start a whole new industry to just get something that they want.
Hasbro only care about profit and movies = $$$$$$$$$$ so they will soon be killing everything non-movie related and everything from now on will only be movie styled.
I don't give a fuck I enjoy the movies for what they are but the whole "G1 totally isn't dead" isn't true. It's a zombie sure but zombies are still dead.