Bloomberg neatly places the very well-reviewed Bumblebee movie, in stateside wide release today, within the larger historical context of Hasbro’s business decisions about all of the Transformers films and also explains how their financial success reshaped the marketing trends of other properties.
“We deliberately wanted to open it up and go back to the roots,” said Hasbro’s [Tom] Warner [senior vice president for the Transformers franchise], who joined the company in 2014 after a career at Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox. “To bring the fun back to Transformers.” It’s a daring move for the company, considering what the previous films accomplished. They may not have drawn many laughs (or positive reviews), but when viewed strictly as a marketing device (action figures, pajamas, pillow cases, lunch boxes), the franchise is a money-making phenomenon. If there’s a Mount Rushmore of film merchandising, the Transformers series is on it, right next to Star Wars, “Frozen” and Marvel.
Ready to crunch numbers? You can check out the entire article right here and then share your thoughts on the 2005 boards!
Terradives
Honestly if Mary Poppins is out performing it, it’s a flop. The only thing that saves this movie is word of mouth. It’s a flop based on movie goers personal satisfaction of previous bayverse movies.
Autobot Burnout
Oh I'd love to hear the justification for THAT ONE.
Ikkstakk
Irony!
Hascon 2019 Has Been Postponed
Music
Eh, I would say "crushed by everything" is a hyperbole. It's only getting crushed by Aquaman, but Poppins is only doing 1M than Bumblebee better by this weekend's estimates. Honestly, Aquaman is the only film this season that's doing really well. Everything else has been okay or downright failing (Welcome to Marwin and Mortal Engines).
Temenos
Mary Poppins barely beat it, which is surprising.
Waterman rules for another week.
Autobot Burnout
It's getting crushed by everything.
Music
Bumblebee Box Office Discussion
Autobot Burnout
So there isn't a backup plan if, I dunno, Bumblebee fails?
Because if ANYTHING should have been learned from TLK, it was they need a fucking backup plan. Because I'm sure you got fed that line of bullshit about how the movies were so stable back in 2017 before TLK decidedly proved that it sure as shit wasn't!
Riddle me that, Mr. Producer.
TheWarPathGuy
Seeing how the film is doing so far worries me. Christmas is literally the worst time to release a movie due to how many big budget movies come out. Aquaman although coming from the mediocre Justice League movie is doing really well. Spider-Man and Mary Poppins are doing far better. Bumblebee isn't doing so hot. If this film does underperform we might not see another film in a very long time. But I think how this film is so well received it might not be a very long wait.
drbeakman
Who are you?
Deadend
Yeah, the reason is because creatively that was pushed. You'd really be surprised by the truth of the matter of where classics, the movies, and various series including cyberverse came from as well as generations as a whole. And how much sub-marketing it took to reach that point in creating that demand into a sustaining way.
So you're really underestimating the impact the movies have had on the brand awareness as a whole. "Sub-par mythology building" yet the brand awareness is an all-time high thanks to it that made the various facets like Masterpiece and generations possible. It's all more connected in market building than you're giving it credit for, and also has to do with market awareness, and market saturation, as well as social climate. G1 elements timing to right now while people are seeking a more 'innocent time' that reminds them of their youth or the ability to share something with family is what's bringing the brand forward more. All of this has to do with market nudges as a whole. Essentially the backbone of how marketing itself works to generate interest and angle a consumer into a certain direction to then build on that, and further evolve.
This is an emphasis Hasbro has been growing for a bit. Even as far back as Animated, you see the growing influence of these elements. All the way to present day where now Hasbro is pushing for things like Hascon, where families can go and feel included to grow all the brands.
You could argue the main emphasis of the push forward, has more to do with moving away from "war robots" and more towards the characters as a species with expanding the mythology. This goes more in line to what G1 itself represents in nostalgia and why nostalgia works as a selling point. By reminding people of their youth, when they had less worries, less concerns, a proverbial happier time of memories they want to share with new families now. Which this article further reflects by the ending quote emphasis. That the future success of the brand is in pushing forward into more character bonds, and inclusive pushes to share it with all. G1 is simply a means to an end in that regard.
These kinds of refreshes and new emphasis happen all the time though. As others pointed out, that's how Beast Wars came to exist. And going into tomorrow, that's how the brand will continue to stay relevant. By growing and transforming while also celebrating its own history to remember its roots, but also evolve into the brand of tomorrow for what it can bring forward more. Without evolving, a brand hits a saturation point where it gets stale. This is also why G1 material works, because it was around a 15 year drought before that material came back, to let saturation fade off. So it's about balance and how you maintain brand awareness. Kids today are the adults of tomorrow, so to them, things like Animated, Cyberverse, and RID is what they know. Same as to some fans, BW, Armada, Energon or cybertron is what they knew. To every era of kids that grows up, the brand itself is something else. But right now, the kids of G1 are the 30-40 somethings of today with their own families. So timing-wise, G1 is the buildup/turnover needed. With what comes as the brand evolves being what's needed then. (Which in also doing this right now, makes G1 a later brand of tomorrow yet again when it's needed.)
But that is inherently flawed to say "Generations and masterpiece saved the brand". TBH, without the movies, we wouldn't have those(and how much those were scoffed at to begin with, how classics itself was supposed to be a one and done but then evolved to other lines, and then finally officially became generations). It's more accurate to say the sustaining of the brand is because of smart marketing to offset the movies by providing an alternative planned fallback, angling the emphasis to them, to then re-push forward, by re-establishing how relevant Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are to the brand for the kids of today. So the parents of tomorrow will still recognize those mainstay mascot characters.
So where the movies go forward to, while still celebrating the brand, will be a way to create and foster a more inclusive dual gender marketing approach. To pull the brand forward as a flagship property, and the different marketing methods to do that from that wealth of lore available that reverberates in the right ways to get positive attention, while pulling away from the emphasis of "war robots" and more into the emphasis of the war as a catalyst that naturally evolved from changing social climates of their world and the culture they have. The emphasis of the characters as characters and their own personal journeys.
This is something we see with Cyberverse too, where so far the most praised episodes have been the ones where it dives more into them on a personal level, like the Macadams episode, or the king of the dinosaurs episode. This is true for other praised episodes of other shows where it's that emotional bond moment that pushes them forward and stands out. Starscream's defiant end in Armada. Dinobot's last stand in beast wars. This in turn is what makes Bumblebee itself work too, the more emotional touch to it. The heart of the movie that creates the character bonds and shows they are more than simply "war robots". How they defy expectations to create that sense of bond to them and make them relatable. It's how that works for new IPs too.
Pepperonimus
True statement for current situation. But, there was a the time when G1/G2 were no longer made profit and Hasbro decided to refresh the brand with Beast Wars/RID/Armada and eventually Live-action movies; I'm unsure if the movies were Hasbro decision or not, but it was very successful that made Transformers a worldwide phenomenon (outside of US/UK/JP).
I see Hasbro decision going back to G1 as another refresh for the brand aside from the fact that nostalgia simply sells. I wonder what will happen in the future when there are no longer G1 fans attached to the brand.
BIGGUY007
I hope in Bumblebee 2 we get to see Barricade and see what caused Bumblebee and Barricade start the fight that they finished in the 2007 Transformers movie. My reason is that in the fight sequence between Bee and Barricade in the movie was the line that Barricade said, \'Finish what you start!\' At least that\'s what I think Barricade said during the fight.
Moy
The long wait begins to what the next film will be like, and who's directing..
UltraAlanMagnus
Cause Aquaman is Renegade 4 life.
The movies relaunched the brand. Get your facts straight and see Bumblebee: A Michael Bay Production.
SilverOptimus
You are missing out. Fans and critics agree that Bumblebee is far superior to Aquaman. Sadly, Aquaman trumps Bumblebee over star power and automatic fame.
Aimless Misfire
Not a chance in hell! This is not the Transformers movie I was looking for.
I'm going to see Aquaman instead. Bumblebee can kiss my ass!
AOEGalvatronRox
It’s because nostalgia sales unfortunately.
Deadend
They've already said Bay is stepping down and Knight is filling his shoes on the design side.
Any new directors haven't been formally decided yet.
This was likely written before any other statements were made. Articles like this typically run through a series of checks before getting published, but sometimes those checks are outdated(notice the most recent Goldner quote used was October). Other than filling in data chunks, the other bits were from older Hasbro actions. Hasbro did put the next "Bay installment" on hold, and at the time back then any talk of a new director hadn't started yet.