A few days ago we reported a special Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts “Special Edition” at Peru theaters, and now we can share for you some details about it.
This “Special Edition” was promoted as 29 minutes of extra content and with a limited screening in selected theaters from July 28th to August 2nd in Peru. This newsie of yours had the chance to watch this new version of the movie this weekend, so read on for details:
- The movie itself it’s the same we all have watched. The extra content is shown post-credits.
- There are 3 parts of extra material. No Transit, alternative ending or new material was shown.
- First part was related on how they chose Peru as the new Transformers location for the movie. Interviews with Steven Caple Jr, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Michael Bay and more. A lot of “behind the scenes” of the filming in Cuzco, Machupicchu and the jungle. Special remark on how difficult was to shot in Peruvian Jungle.
- Second part was about special effects and how the action scenes were filmed. Several previs models, storyboards and behind the scenes. Special focus on the Inti Raymi parade and the Autobots/Terrorcons persecution.
- Third part was about the challenges while filming in Machupichu (not only because of weather and geography, but all the legal restriction), the final volcano battle CGI and Noah an his exo-suit “behind the scenes”. Steven Caple Jr. confirmed one more time that the it was directly inspired by G1 Daniel’s exo-suit.
- There was a special greeting to Peruvian public at the very end. We see Mirage in alt mode at Machupicchu wit a “Gracias causas” (Peruvian slang for “Thanks friends”) on top of the screen, then he transforms into robot mode and a big “Gracias Peru” (Thanks Perú) is shown at the bottom of the screen.
It’s good to mention how successful the movie was in Peru, with full theaters even last week. It’s likely to be on some theaters until the first week of August. Local box office reached $14,405,975 last weekend with more than 3 million spectators so far. Incredible numbers for Peruvian movie theater standards.
We have added more details of the extra content after the jump with some interesting trivia and curiosities. Hit the button to discuss on the 2005 Boards!
Extra trivia
- The crew had to build bridges, paths, platforms and more to make possible to transport all the equipment, cameras, lights, etc.
- Doctors always carried antidotes due to the great amount of poisonous snakes and other animals in the jungles. Heat and rain were the worst enemies of the filming crew. A real challenge for everyone.
- For Steven Caple Jr and Lorenzo di Bonaventura to respect the traditions and cultural heritage of Cuzco. The Inti Raymi parade was very important for them to capture Peruvian culture on camera.
- We had tons of “behind the scenes” of the Cuzco scenes with Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback.
- The filming base was destroyed by the sudden rain and wind in the jungle. They had to rebuild it while continuing the shooting.
- The idea to locate the Maximals in hidden in Peru was also used to explain why they didn’t showed up before in the live-action continuity.
- There were several “behind the scenes”of the vehicles running around Cuzco, including the scene where Optimus crashed with Scourge. There was no explanation why they were cut of the film.
- The persecution battle in Abra Malaga was visioned by Lorenzo di Bonaventura who sent pictures of the location to the team in the Los Angeles. They recreated the location in 3D using Lorenzo’s images and planned the battle from top to bottom.
- The challenge for the stunt drivers was to lack of oxygen at the high altitudes of the area. This made stunts even more difficult, considering that the highways were at the border of the cliffs without any barrier.
- The crew was lucky that day, since weather was good during the filming of this scene.
- Small clip about the evolution of the Transformers design. The team wanted to go closer to G1 but keeping the movieverse look of complexity during the transformations.
- A lot of respect for the crew to the ancient Incas culture. They wondered on how the Incas were able to build Machupicchu by transforming the mountains without damaging the surrounding nature.
- Several Peruvian authorities who worked with the production team also shared his experiences with the movie.
- Logistic in Machupicchu was very complicated due to legal restrictions: no electricity or generators were allowed, so the team had to use LED lights with batteries. Also, no equipment could be dragged or touch the land, so all had to be carried by each of the crew members.
- Since they had no camera cranes or similar, the team used a steadicam on top of a tall pole with a special frame for a camera man. This was effective to create a “Transformers perspective” for the scenes in Machupicchu.
- Almost all the volcano battle scene was CGI and Noah’s exo-suit was going to be a CGI closed helmet, but Steven Caple wanted to see Anthony Ramos’ face in the scene. This changed the original plan and Anthony recorded all his scenes with blue background and wearing a special suit.
Gee Won 1984
I wonder if they sell Guinea Pig Ice Cream in Peru movie theaters. It's thing there.
TheJthunder45
This is quite possibly the funniest interaction I have ever seen on the internet regarding this movie.
Max Tower
Well you said something that was ruminating in my head, and then I happened to see a passing comment in a Star Wars video that set me off.
So I decided to reply once I had ordered my thoughts on the topic more.
I had an object to the idea of "Kill everything" but I needed a citation for why I thought that was a bad idea in more detail than just "I don't like it".
KodyCrimson
…That's literally why those movies ARE bad though.
Also wow, spend a LOOOOOOT of time responding to a single 2 sentence paragraph posted 2 days ago.
Max Tower
I don't think it is an issue of "do they deserve to live" so much as is it useful for the franchise to not kill them.
Was it useful that Barricade was forgotten about rather than had his death shown on screen, because they forgot about him, and then when they had him defeated again it was in a non fatal way it was useful, then they just "threw it away" casually.
I think this is a distinct problem with the hollywood mindset, they keep doing it and if there is ever any chance of a sequel its the wrong choice.
It is not just Transformers that makes this mistake Star Trek made the same mistake with Klingons all the time too. especially in the Movies.
I stand by my use of the world "Childish" as it is all about "short term gratification" I want to eat all the chocolate now rather than same some for later not thinking of any benefit of the anticipation of more chocolate.
Not to mention it's a huge waste of time and money as it means in the Transformers Franchise instead of chipping away at Megatron's back story they landed us with a bunch of no-bodies & regularly wasted named characters.
It gives the impression the franchise is fueled by nihilism.
Or to be brutal about it imagine if Sherlock Holmes had shot Moriarty dead the 1st time he'd met him., Or if The first battle of the beast wars the Maximals had killed all the Predacons and gone home or captured Megatron in the 1st episode repaired their ship and triggered Beast Machines without them ever finding the ark and in episode 2 Megatron stole all the sparks and tried to become a god.
That is basically what most Transformers Movies are like "un earned epicness" Even the 1986 is guillty of all of this too it also kills it's established characters, has to set up some new ones (doesn't really bother) defeats the villain you'd never even heard of before.
But at least Galvatron survives.
The problem is these Movies seem unaware of how their murder fetish isn't an end to itself it is a detriment to telling a story, it's a miracle they managed to keep Soundwave alive for more than one Movie I guess.
But Laserbeak or Frenzy is a good example of a character ideal to be a persistent nuisance. They did nothing with.
Heck even the Kitchen Crew could have been left alive and showed up occasionally to cause chaos or tussle with Wheelie
These movies are bad not because they are badly made or badly acted or badly written but because they are unable to think any further ahead than their own immediate personal gratification. & if they do keep a character for later it is someone who you wouldn't miss like Simmons.
But like I said wasted potential is the issue if have with these movie's murder fetish. Much like how Transformers Prime killed off some characters rather than recast them as they couldn't afford their actor's fees (never should have hired them in the 1st place then should you).
If they do this with Transformers might they do the same with Gi Joe ? and if they didn't do it wouldn't that kinda prove the whole point of my contention that you need these people around to tell the story.
So if Paramount decided "I know lets kill ever named Cobra character" and then wonder why they don't have any material for a sequel.
Yeah think about more than your immediate short term gratification and you won't have the metaphorical equivellent of a string of one night stands than "healthy and engaging long term relationship".
Transformers Movies metaphorically and literally have to high of a body count.
KodyCrimson
I wasn't denying that. Just brought it up as an example. I liked the bit because it reminded me of Legolas and Gimli in LOTR.
VVa
Exactly.
But also, come on, Primal's little chuckle was adorable.
KodyCrimson
To be fair "That was mine." Primal chuckle.
Plus it's hard to feel sympathy towards characters like the Terrorcons anyways. They showed early on they had no remorse hurting or even killing others when Scourge brought Bumblebee into Stasis Lock and killed Apelinq. They pretty much opened the door wide open to get snuffed out.
VVa
I don't get why we should have sympathy for the killing of beings that want nothing more than to destroy life remorselessly or serve a higher being that wishes to do the same.
And they don't enjoy it, the only ones that enjoy it are the bad guys.
Max Tower
It is ill judged as every time they do it they create a problem in a subsequent sequel by having done it.
Also people forget but every Transformers movie is going to be "someone's" first the writing of such movies has a minimal task of making sure you know what is what even if you have never seen one before, they could do better at that in every movie including this one.
I don't have a problem with them killing so much as I do with them looking like they enjoy it.
I know Hollywood Movies are not any sensible person's moral compass.
But dehumanisation is always creepy and even more so when the "supposed" good guys are doing it. It might not be quite as bad if we can "pre-suppose" they are not living beings like the KSI robots.
But it isn't so much the death as the "air of cruelty" these movies have.
Such as when Optimus Prime threatens to kill Grimlock just to get him to do what he wanted. like he's taming an animal or something.
But well it's a Transformers Movie they have a "reputation" and it's very well deserved in every way that they have one.
I might "wish" they were better movies, but at this point I would be wildly optimistic to expect it, though it does prove one thing, Bay was never the problem, he was only part of the problem.
I think they missed a chance if they'd made a slightly better Movie then they'd likely have made a couple hundred million more and got some good will word of mouth, instead of a lot of people who did see it saying "You can wait for streaming on this one" as some did.
I am just saying I think that is a shame as it does no one any favors really.
It also implies they will make all the same mistakes with Gi Joe too, which would be a real shame too.
VVa
It isn't that deep. What we were shown, a child could figure out.
Unicron eat planet, it mean that Unicron want eat Earth.
Also "childish" is a stupid word to use when describing the bad guys getting killed. They got what they deserved, and they're replaceable considering Unicron doesn't seem bothered by them dying.
KodyCrimson
Her lack of transformation was probably a budget thing. That being said I don't know why they'd allocate that budget to someone like Rhinox instead as he's hardly in robot mode during the last fight anyways.
The Terrorcons were meant to be one-and-done as they're Unicron's ambassadors, basically to send the message. And Unicron's motivation is pretty straightforward, consume everything. The stakes were set as soon as he ate the Maximal Homeworld, we saw what he's capable of and his goal of destruction.
On the point of the "so called heroes" killing, what are you supposed to do in a war? Throw flowers on terrorists? The Terrorcons sided with a genocidal nutcase and seemingly willingly served him (or at the least really enjoy what they're doing). They didn't express any distaste to the Autobots about working with Unicron like Galvatron in the G1 movie did. Killing is NOT unrealistic in the slightest in a war scenario. It might be "unrealistic" to the already unrealistic world of the Generation 1 cartoon, but not most series.
We still have the entire Decepticon faction to use too, there's still numerous potential villains. Megatron, Jhiaxus, Bludgeon, Thunderwing, Overlord, etc. I don't know if they'd use any of them, but there's still a huge list of available characters.
Max Tower
I just find it mystifying why you'd spend hundreds of millions of dollars and not take a day to see if the plot makes sense.
it would have helped to have a little line here and there to explain things like why Airazor doesn't transform, or a bit more about the motivations of the Terrorcons and Unicron ; such as when he's fighting Apelinq he could have mocked him or had a conversation with one of his minions just so the audience know the stakes better.
Also stop killing everyone it's childish and unrealistic, they'd have been better off to keep one of the Terrorcons alive to get reinforcements for the sequel, not just murder them all (and I will say murder just for the sheer brutality and relish with which the so called heroes kill).
It's rather macabre to be honest.
I have some issue with their casting choices too, I don't find their humans engaging enough still, even if they might be better than Shia La Beuff.
I just think they have some fairly basic things to do it's not hard but they can't pace action scenes properly either I feel a long running issue with Transformers Movies is how poorly laied out the action actually is. Scourge Vs Optimus could have been amazing if they kept up a cat and mouse ground chase around mountain roads and small villages not so long it got boring (Indiana Jones I'm looking at you) but long enough that you don't think "I've seen better fights in a cartoon".
JD The Last Autobot
I know that the number of tickets is also important but they almost always take into account the money raised, so yes, ROTB is the highest grossing movie in Peru of all time
KodyCrimson
Probably needed that year. I've seen other cases where studios just didn't give them enough time to begin with. They might've needed that just to get the product out the door. Especially because of how Covid and the lasting effects on entertainment messed up the process. Executives have a terrible grasp on the time required to make pieces of media like movies and video games. They think with the cash and that's it.
Black Convoy
I just confirmed that beat Endgame in box office. Waiting for the spectators numbers now.
VVa
They rewrote the shit out of it and cut out cool stuff.
Max Tower
But I still feel entitled to be "surprised" what with it being delayed an entire year… what did they do for a year "sleep?"
JD The Last Autobot
There would be a box office difference in the number of tickets, it still does not exceed Endgame and it will not, the box office is the money raised
KodyCrimson
Well it's always been a thing, but now this is just normal for much more media than ever before.