Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023 Film)

Transformers Rise of the Beasts is an American science fiction action film based on the Transformers franchise notably the Beast Era. It is the seventh installment in the Transformers live-action film series and serves as both a standalone sequel to Bumblebee (2018) and a prequel to Transformers (2007). It's an alternate version of the real film that was released in an alternative universe. The film is directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber. It will star Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback as well the voice talents of Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman, and Peter Dinklage. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was released theatrically in the United States on June 9, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. Unlike its real-world counterpart it failed. It grossed $150 million against a $200 million dollar budget, making it a Box Office Bomb costing the studio an estimated $300 million dollars. It received extremely negative reviews often considering it to be one of the worst films ever made. With criticism towards its Plot, Story, Climax, Character Designs, Action Scenes, Screenplay and Writing. The poor reception resulted in the Transformers franchise fading into obscurity with Transformers One (2024) being the final film of the franchise.

Plot
In 1994 the Autobots are struggling to survive a devastating threat known as the Terrorcons. Ironhide, Brawn, and Ratchet are among those killed by a violent Terrorcon trophy hunter named Scourge. Optimus Prime discovers that the Decepticons are being hunted as well and kills a Decepticon grunt named Transit. The Terrorcons travel to Brooklyn for one of the three Transwarp Keys. Keys capable of traveling through space and time. Scourge doesn't kill an archeologist named Noah Diaz who tries to escape with the key with the help of his car which turns out to be the Autobot Mirage. The Terrorcons send the police to capture Mirage so they can steal the Transwarp Key. Bumblebee and the other Autobots ambush Scourge who uses an E.M.P blast to injure Bumblebee before stealing the Transwarp Key and leaving.

The Autobots travel to Peru looking for the second key and meet Optimus Primal a Maximal warshipped by Peruvian natives. Optimus Primal explains that the Maximals are survivors from a planet destroyed by a dimension traveling evil god named Unicron millions of years ago. He reveals he hid one of the Transwarp Keys in Peru to hide it from Scourge and the Predacons that had been trying to feed Earth to Unicron using the Transwarp keys for several million years. The Autobots decide to seek the keys to stop the Terrorcons and go back to Cybertron. The Autobots and Maximals battle against the Terrorcons in Montreal who reprogram Airazor to attack the team. They manage to free Airazor from the Terrorcons and defeat Nightbird and Battletrap.

The Terrorcons attack Machu Picchu searching for the Transwarp key hid by Optimus Primal. Scourge finds the key and takes it to a portal shrine intending to bring Unicron to Earth. The Autobots and Maximals work together to fight off the army of Terrorcons which include Battletrap and Nightbird returning. Scourge releases several hidden Predacon drones called Scorponoks taken from the Maximal's planet. A portal opens a few million miles from Earth and Unicron enters the solar system. The Autobots and Maximals fight the Terrorcons and Scorponok Drones and Bumblebee is given an eagle enhanced robot mode for the fight.

Unicron prepares to devour Earth, but Optimus and Bumblebee attack Scourge. Scourge loses his mask and he's revealed that he is Optimus Prime from another timeline. Bumblebee and Optimus destroy Scourge and Bumblebee blasts the Transwarp Keys and Unicron is sent back to his dimension. The Autobots and Maximals are free to rejoice among the Earth although Sector Seven starts hunting them.

In a mid-credits scene, Sector Seven helps clean up the mess in Machu Picchu and mentions a test subject in hoover dam.

Humans

 * Anthony Ramos as Noah Diaz, an ex-military electronics expert who lives with his family in Brooklyn, trying to support them.
 * Dominique Fishback as Elena Wallace, an artifact researcher at a museum whose boss keeps taking credit for her work.
 * Luna Lauren Vélez as Noah's mother.
 * Tobe Nwigwe as Reek, a companion of Noah and Elena during their global trek.

Autobots

 * Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobot resistance who transforms into a 1987 Freightliner FLA semi truck.
 * Dylan O'Brien as Bumblebee, an Autobot scout who transforms into a modified yellow and black second-generation 1970s Classic Chevrolet Camaro with all-terrain extensions.
 * Pete Davidson as Mirage, an Autobot spy who can project holograms and transforms into a silver-blue Porsche 964.
 * Liza Koshy as Arcee, a Female Autobot commando who transforms into a red-white Ducati 916motorcycle.
 * Cristo Fernández as Wheeljack, an Autobot scientist and mechanic who transforms into a brown and white 1970s Volkswagen Type 2 panel bus.
 * John DiMaggio as Stratosphere, an Autobot Air-Soldier who transforms into a cargo plane, that provides transportation for the Autobots in their global adventure.

Maximals

 * Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal, the leader of the Maximals who transforms into a gorilla.
 * Michelle Yeoh as Airazor, a Maximal who transforms into a peregrine falcon.
 * Tongayi Chirisa as Cheetor, a Maximal who transforms into a cheetah.
 * David Sobolov as, Rhinox, a Maximal who transforms into a rhinoceros.

Terrorcons

 * Peter Dinklage as Scourge, the leader of the Terrorcons and a trophy hunter, who transforms into a black Peterbilt 359 logging semi truck.
 * David Sobolov as Battletrap, a Terrorcon who transforms into an orange 1980s GMC TopKick C7000 tow truck.
 * Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Nightbird, a Female Terrorcon who transforms into a Nissan Skyline GT-R R33.
 * Many nameless Terrorcon drones appear along with many Scorponok drones called Predacons.

Decepticons

 * John DiMaggio as Transit, a Decepticon that transforms into a transit bus.

Box office
As of July 30, 2023, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has grossed $70 million in the United States and Canada, and $80 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $150 million. It bombed at the box office and is currently the lowest-grossing installment of the franchise .Following its lackluster performance, the film is considered one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time, with expected losses for Paramount Pictures. to be as much as $300 million.

In the United States and Canada, Rise of the Beasts was projected to gross $50–60 million from 3,673 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $20 million on its first day, including $8.8 million from Wednesday and Thursday night preview screenings, up from the totals of The Last Knight ($5.5 million in 2017) and Bumblebee ($2.85 million in 2018). It went on to debut to $35 million failing at the box office. In its second weekend the film dropped 67% to $10 million, finishing fourth. It then made $5 million in its third weekend.

Critical Response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has an approval rating of 4%, based on 250 reviews, with an average rating of 2.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts combines the worst of Michael Bay's films with the poor plot of Bumblebee. The result is a mindless inept action flick. " On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 14 out of 100, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.

Audiences, Fans and Critics panned the plot and character designs. The designs for Optimus Prime, Mirage, Wheeljack, Stratosphere, Transit, Battletrap, Nightbird, Cheetor, Optimus Primal, Scorponok and the Terrorcon drones were criticized with the action figure line selling poorly. The film was also criticized for unnecessarily combining plot elements of too many projects that should have been separate films. The writing was heavily criticized with critics panning the connections between scenes, character stereotypes and roles in the plot. Fans criticized the film for failing to set up sequels by not including Predacon or Decepticon villains or even showing Unicron's alt mode and depicting him as dependent on the Terrorcons.

Cancelled Franchise
In February 2022, the film was announced to be the first entry of three new installments in the Transformers series. However, following the films reception, the trilogy was cancelled and the Rise of the Beasts was retconned as non-canon. The Live Action Films were postponed and Hasbro intended to launch an animated film series, in the continuity of Bumblebee, starting with Transformers One in 2024.

Transformers One was released on September 13, 2024 and grossed $50 million against a production budget of $120 million making it a Box Office Bomb and had mixed reviews. On November 2024, Paramount Pictures revealed that no further Transformers films are in development. The same year, Transformers: Earthspark was cancelled. For the first time since 1996 there were no cartoon series based on the franchise apart from BotBots. A Netflix series promoting the Generations product line is currently in development hell.