Well, this comes as no surprise. With just few days left to finish Year 2014, Box-Office Mojo has announced that Transformers: Age Of Extinction is the Highest Grossing Movie Of 2014.
AOE achieved this with a worldwide gross of nearly $1.1 Billion. Second place winner is Guardians of the Galaxy which is closely followed by Maleficent.
Guardian has this to say:
“Transformers: Age of Extinction has been named the highest-grossing film of 2014, thanks largely to huge success in China.The fourth instalment in Michael Bay’s divisive, sci-fi saga took $1.087bn (£690m) around the world. More than $300m came from China, where the film overtook Avatar in July to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. Bay shot Age of Extinction in Hong Kong and hired Chinese stars such as Li Bingbing for supporting roles, thereby helping to encourage local interest.”
Director Michael Bay has also been announced as the “Producer Of The Year”, following the success of Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Ash from Carolina
Avatar had the advantage of timing. The new 3D technology provided a level of novelty that the movie industry had not seen a very very long time. So it can be understandable that people would want to see Avatar when co-workers, friends, and family were talking about this new movie technology. Now that 3D feels like been there done that Avatar might not have such a huge run, but that's the thing about risks sometimes risk pays off big time.
Perhaps also tapping into that pent up desire for films to take us away from Earth also helped to produce such an insane box office run. It seems like Hollywood considers movies not set on Earth to be too expensive and risky yet some massive box office pulls were with movies not set on Earth.
SpinalCord
I'm sure securing car licenses is vastly easier now because of the enormous success of the movies which other companies now want to capitalize on and will set aside their previous stance (like Volkswagen), but as for the engineering I'm not so sure about… you compare Human Alliance Jazz to "Masterpiece quality"… well, that quality has nothing to do with the movies since Masterpiece has been around long before the first film was even pitched. If your statement were flipped, like Masterpiece Jazz was designed with many of the same elements as Human Aliance Jazz, then that's how you would say the movie engineering has directly affected lines outside of itself.
I also feel the engineering would have naturally become more advanced even without the films… look at the evolution between G1 and Beast Wars, then the difference between the original Beast Wars figures to the Cybertron line… I think it was going down that route regardless. And now look at Age of Extinction who's engeneering is as simple as the Armada figures from a decade ago.
So while I do believe the movies pushed the designers and engeenieriers to create more complex figures, I'm not convinced that went beyond the first movie and is something they wouldn't have caught up with on their own… I also cannot think of one movie design that I like aesthetically… I know Buster Optimus is well received, but I just do not have the taste for those designes. While technically they have harder transformations, I think the toys themselves look like shit.
kaotika
it was no assumption. this threads about the earnings of the movie. you were the one making rationalisations and excuses becuase of the licensing and toy enginerring. if theyre completely different why bring them up at all:
as an aside imagine how much eaiser it would be to get licensing if the cars hadnt startd in films that were cirtically panned. and imagine how different hte engineering wouldnt have been if the movies hadnt been apalling.
Raiju
The source is in the Official Takara Masterpiece Guide book with translations by SydneyY. I can't do everything for you. Use Google and the forum's Search function.
And when did I say the Bay films were immune from criticism? I didn't. Don't make assumptions. I said very clearly that the films and the toys are two different things, as are the benefits that the films bring to the franchise. It's hyper critical and vocal fans that can't tell the difference between them all.
No one is holding a gun to your head to buy the tickets and force you to watch the movies. That's all you. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me for the 3rd and 4th and 5th times…. ?
kaotika
source?
hasui mentions nothing of that, only tomica.
and it doesnt make the films any good or make them imune from criticism – just big money earners. the criticism applies regardless of any flow-on effects that may or may not materialize. a shitty means to an admirable ends. theyre all very nice business reasons but the potential benefits 5 years down the track are cold comfort when sitting in the cinema watching a trainwreck today.
Raiju
I refer to my past post:
The Official Masterpiece Guide mentions that Takara said the movies have made their job easier to acquire more licenses. I didn't say HasTak has never worked with getting auto licenses before the movies because Alternators/Binaltech (and Alternity) or that such pre-Bay figures were non-existent. What I did say is that Takara's job has been made much easier thanks to the films.
What does this mean? Fancy pants luxury brand sports car companies like Lambo and Lancia who might've once considered that Tranformers were beneath their contempt (thinking of them as nothing more than kid's toys) are now much more willing to play ball with Takara, as are previously reluctant brands like VW (if the stories about their former "anti-war toys stance" are true). Takara Tomy never had issues with getting licenses with close knit companies like Nissan (the Datsun/Fairlady brothers, Ironhide/Ratchet) but other auto companies did prove more troublesome. The Bay movies helped grease the wheels. The Official MP Guidebook supports this as a Takara marketing director/executive has been quoted as saying that the live action movies helped them. Fact. It's in the translation that SydneyY made. Go read it.
Which translates to us getting characters in the MP line that would've been thought impossible before, like Wheeljack and Bumblebee, and leaving open more possibilities of once-thought-impossible characters like Jazz, Cliffjumper, and Mirage. We get our cool kickass G1 Masterpiece toys sooner rather than later. The reason that we haven't seen Ironhide/Ratchet (Nissan) or Tracks (GM) is because Takara knows they can bide their time and acquire licenses easily enough with their respective companies. There is no rush with those characters. But Takara wants to strike while the popularity of the TF brand is hot (AOE was just released this past summer so it's fresh in may people's minds) so they're trying to go for the hard-to-acquire and/or expensive-to-acquire licenses like Lancia and VW. Takara also mentions that 2-3 years ago, they didn't have the budget nor the clout to chase after the Lancia Stratos license. It wasn't until recently that they could successfully get the license and bam, we have MP-20 Wheeljack.
As far as the films go, they chose to appeal (or pander as this seems like such a popular buzzword around here) to a broader demographic and entice new viewers who may not necessarily be fans of the franchise themselves and/or have no prior knowledge of the characters and accompanying mythos. Because we are fans of the franchise and are intimately familiar with the characters/mythos, the fandom tends to be more critical of the movies. There's no disputing that but at the same time I don't really begrudge Paramount and Hasbro from appealing to broader demo's either to garner more viewership (most would say this has lowered standards and I do happen to agree with this, but hey, this is summer popcorn action blockbuster and not Shakespeare).
But I can at least divorce myself from the criticism directed at the films enough to realize that, yes, they do more good than bad for the franchise, and that yes, some of their toys can be pretty cool too. I can enjoy the figures and the benefits that the films bring without wallowing in anti-Bay shit that typically gets stirred up when the topic rears its head.
kaotika
takara and hasbro have been doign licensed vehicles long before the tf movies (alts, bts, rid sideburn). and hasui stated that its the longstanding relationship between tomy and car makers for the tomica line that allowed mp20 and 21 to be made. youre giving bay and the films credit they for something they dont have anything to do with (shouldnt we have an mp tracks and windhcarger thanks to gm? its been 7 years).
Shogo Hasui on Masterpiece Line and Wheeljack – Transformers News – TFW2005
the films chose quantity over quality by targeting the video game playing set. theyre basically video games with fight scenes stuck together by humans acting out long boring cut scense in between. so they went where the money was and you cant blame them for that because its big business. but weve seen before that its possible to do toy selling shows while also doing quality story telling. so when they deliberately go with shunning story for action and loud obnoxious stupidity – yeah they have to sit there and suck up the criticism from fans who expected better story telling because thats just what that choice costs you. cos thats the creative yin to the money grabbing yang.
it was a conscous choice and i dont begrudge them making that choice but you dont get to turn around and go "oh but.." when there are consequances of that choice.
Raiju
"I, Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, respectfully disagree with your disagreement!"
Taste is subjective. But a lot of the complex engineering and design elements that went into may of the movie toys have benefited other lines like Generations and Masterpiece. This is fact, given that designers at Takara Tomy like Hasui and Kobayashi are confirmed to have worked on all three lines. Human Alliance Jazz is damn near Masterpiece quality in his build, design, and screen accuracy plus he has working doors and an interior to hold mini figures.
SpinalCord
I for one have to disagree with this.
Raiju
Too bad Honest Trailers didn't make one for DOTM since that movie remains my fave Bay film thus far.
My stance still remains; shit on the movies all you want but they did bring us some cool toy designs (pre-AOE anyway and even some of the AOE designs are pretty neat despite the limitations the designers obviously had to work with like smaller size points and lack of paint; Evasion Mode Optimus is hella cool to me and new Camaro Deluxe Bee actually surprised me with his transformation engineering in spite of my lowered expectations of the line as a whole).
Not to mention real tangible benefits like licensed cars and thus more possible character offerings for the Masterpiece line. I thank Bay that we finally have MP-20 Wheeljack and MP-21 Bumblebee fully realized and in our hands, and hopefully with more to come like Sunstreaker, Jazz, Cliffjumper, and Mirage.
All thanks to the popularity and money garnered from the films (and China's dirty, dirty money ).
kaotika
i think most critics would settle for them being simply coherent.
Honest Trailers – Transformers – YouTube
Honest Trailers – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – YouTube
Honest Trailers – Transformers: Age of Extinction (變形金剛4 ç*ç»é‡ç”Ÿ) – YouTube
SpinalCord
Was introduced to TransFormers during season 3 of Beast Wars and stayed a hardcore fan through Universe 2003… hated the Unicron Trilogy (barely watched or bought any of the figures), Classics, and the first movie, but got back into it with Animated. Enjoyed Prime, the BotCon/Club stories, and MTMTE/RID. With Generations, there's still something left for me to enjoy
Raiju
I was pretty much the same way. I'm a G1/80's kid; loved the Sunbow cartoon and the G1 toys. After the 1986 animated movie killed off about 95% of the season 1 and 2 characters I knew and loved as a kid, I began to simply stop caring about Transformers as I didn't like the new Season 3 characters nearly as much. I watched Beast Wars (but not religiously) and it was a decent show. I didn't buy any of the toys though. Armada/Cybertron/Energon I skipped entirely.
Fast forward to TF Animated. I loved the show (after my then-girlfriend/now-wife turned me on to it). Still didn't buy any of the toys. The first Bay movie was released. It was pretty decent and reignited my interest in the franchise again. I started to get back into collecting around 08-09 when ROTF rolled around. Although ROTF was a huge disappointment as a film, the toys (especially with Human Alliance and the follow-up Hunt For The Decepticons line) had some of the most impressive engineering and accuracy of any figures thus far. When I bought MP-M01 Starscream (and MP-03 Takara white Starscream), I was hooked again.
I can safely say it was the Bay movies that brought me back around to the franchise, and in that regard, the films were a success by bringing old fans like me back to the fold and making new fans alike worldwide. There is more than just box office take, I agree, but there is also more than poo-poo'ing a franchise simply because the movies aren't freakin' Shakespeare.
Could the Bay films be better? Of course, but I never forget that much like my beloved G1 (rewatching the old eps as an adult, much of it is laughably bad to me now in all honesty) or critically acclaimed standalone shows like Beast Wars, Animated, and Prime, they're all basically commercial media vehicles to get fans to buy merch while giving us entertainment value. None of this is Citizen Cane level high art, guys, not when the whole premise of Transformers is good guy alien robots that transform into stuff punch/shoot bad guy alien robots that transform into stuff, with hapless humans caught in the middle.
I look at the grand picture and support what HasTak is doing because it benefits all of their other endeavors like video games, comic books, Classics/Generations toys, and Masterpiece figures. And to deny that the Bay movies have any benefit to the franchise as a whole is just mind boggling when all the evidence says otherwise.
Supertron
I have a couple friends who were at least interested by the Transformers movie. That interest led to an Archieve Binge on TV Tropes and TF Wiki. To think they haven't brought in new fans is just silly in my opinion.
clydegoobler
Bays films have definitely brought in new fans. Take me, for example. I'm an 80s kid and loved G1 Transformers, owned tons of TF toys, etc. But around 1989 I stopped caring about Transformers and I didn't care about them until around 2006 when I learned about the first live action movie.
The movies brought me back to the franchise and made me remember how much I loved it. Between me and my two sons, my family has purchased 200-300 figures since Bay's first TF movie came out. Am I a completely "new" fan? No, but I would've never given Transformers another thought without Bay's movies. And I'm guessing there are a ton of people out there like me.
Autovolt 127
I agree, the movies have done wonders for Hasbro and Takara.
LegendAntihero
I'm surprised a movie like Avatar would be #1 based on hype alone. You'd think an established franchise like Avengers would do better
SpinalCord
I imagine he knows the difference between fact and opinion… some people really do argue that Avatar is the greatest movie ever simply based on the box office
Hollywood Hoist
If someone wants to say Transformers AOE is the greatest movie ever made, then to them it is. There are people out there who believe Avatar is the greatest movie. Everyone has different criteria for what makes a great film.
I'm sure if you list what you think are the greatest films, there would be plenty who disagree with you.
Ash from Carolina
Not him, but there have been attempts by other people in the past to say that box office was the one and only measuring stick of a film's quality. Of course that line of reasoning often gets shot down when someone says does that mean that Avatar is the greatest film ever made.