Discover the untold story of how legendary leaders OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON went from brothers-in-arms to sworn enemies in the action-packed and visually stunning TRANSFORMERS ONE, arriving to buy on Digital October 22, 2024, from Paramount Home Entertainment.  The film will arrive on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 17, in time for holiday gift-giving.

“The perfect movie for the whole family” (Joe Deckelmeier, Screen Rant), TRANSFORMERS ONE is “chock-full of thrilling action scenes, great humor, and a thoughtful script with powerful themes” (Julian Roman, Movieweb).  The wildly entertaining adventure reveals the fateful events that led to the epic conflict between the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS.  Certified Fresh and Verified Hot on Rotten Tomatoes – with a sensational 98% audience rating^* and an A CinemaScore — TRANSFORMERS ONE is sure to delight both longtime and brand-new fans.

Directed by Academy Award-winner Josh Cooley, TRANSFORMERS ONE is the first fully CG-animated TRANSFORMERS film and boasts character designs and action sequences created by the renowned artists of ILM that are “truly astonishing” (Rafael Motamayor, SlashFilm).  The film also features an exceptional all-star voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

Fans who purchase the film on Digital or 4K Ultra HD will have access to over 45 minutes of thrilling bonus content. Explore the lively and colorful world of CYBERTRON like you’ve never seen it before. Hear from the A-list voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Scarlett Johansson.  Go behind the scenes for the making of the epic Iacon 5000 race and much, much more!

Bonus content is detailed below:

• In The Beginning — Witness the origin story of OPTIMUS PRIME (ORION PAX) and MEGATRON (D-16) and the evolution of their relationship from brothers-in-arms to sworn enemies. Filmmakers discuss the vision for the film and how it was brought to life.

• World Building On CYBERTRON — Hear from director Josh Cooley, the production design team, and the visual effects team about rendering the colorful world of CYBERTRON in a way that fans have never seen before.  

• Together As One — Meet the A-list voice cast for each of the TRANSFORMERS: Chris Hemsworth (ORION PAX/OPTIMUS PRIME), Brian Tyree Henry (D-16/MEGATRON), Scarlett Johansson (ELITA-1), and more!

• The Iacon 5000 — Behold the most epic TRANSFORMERS race ever as competitors vie for the ultimate prize!  Go behind the scenes with the filmmakers as they break down this breathtaking action sequence.

• The Battle For CYBERTRON — Cast and filmmakers take you through the film’s epic climax as OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON battle for CYBERTRON’s future.

Synopsis

TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON.  Better known as sworn enemies, they were once friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of CYBERTRON forever. The first-ever fully CG-animated TRANSFORMERS movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

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Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Black Myth: Wukong by Geeky Ninja

He-Man by Carlos Valenzuela

Kingpin by Bryan Johnson

Logan’s Run by John Dunn

Pan’s Labyrinth by Christopher Higginson

Poor Things by Sarah Atwa

The Shining by Victor Barreto

The Substance by Luis López

Terrifier by Forksaken Folklore

Transformers One by Alan Dav

The post Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net: He-Man, Poor Things, The Shining, The Substance, Terrifier, Transformers One appeared first on JoBlo.

Dreamworks Animation’s The Wild Robot performed way ahead of our expectations at the box office this weekend. Even the most optimistic industry estimates had this only making about $25 million (we pegged it at significantly less). Still, it looks like the excellent reviews (and the fact that it’s based on a universally beloved book) played in its favor. Its $35 million opening weekend is a pretty big coup for a non-sequel these days, with it all earning a terrific A CinemaScore rating, promising that it should have good legs in the week to come.

However, another animated movie about robots with solid word-of-mouth wasn’t so lucky. Transformers One, which also earned an A CinemaScore and boasts an all-star voice cast, collapsed in week two at the box office. It plummeted a massive 62% to a $9.3 million total and a $39 million domestic tally. It will be lucky to break $55 million in North America and will rank as the lowest-grossing Transformers movie since the original animated film way back in 1986. Perhaps this franchise needs to be retired for a while (do we really need a G.I. Joe/ Transformers crossover?).

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice also sported another strong showing at the box office, earning a rock-solid $16 million and crossing the $250 million mark domestically. Not bad for a movie WB almost consigned to a streaming debut on Max. 

Of course, the opening everyone will be talking about this weekend is Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which turned out to be the disaster everyone thought it would be with a $4 million opening. Sporting a putrid D CinemaScore rating, the movie also proved to be the latest box office dud from Lionsgate, a studio which, sadly, cannot seem to catch a break these days. 

Megalopolis was soundly trounced by a few movies this weekend, including the Indian blockbuster Devara Part 1, which stars RRR’s N. T. Rama Rao Jr, and made a hefty $5.6 million for fourth place. Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil also continued to show some serious legs, making  $4.3 million (only a 26% week-to-week decline), with it likely to end its theatrical run in the $40 million range. 

Deadpool & Wolverine, despite its imminent home media bow, made another $2.65 million, which landed it in seventh place, with a $631 million total. Amazon/MGM’s My Old Ass, which has been doing well in limited release, expanded to over 1000 screens and made $2.24 million. Lionsgate’s Never Let Go lost 50% of its audience and sank to ninth place with $2.2 million (and a sub $10 million domestic tally – horrible for a horror flick). Finally, The Substance, despite great reviews, hasn’t been able to attract much of a theatrical audience, with it making only $1.8 million in tenth place and a $6.8 million total. Ouch.

Next weekend should give the box office a much-needed shot of adrenaline, with Joker Folie A Deux primed for a $60 million-plus opening. Did you see anything this weekend? Let us know in the comments! 

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In a surprising twist of fate at the often fickle box office, the exceedingly well-reviewed The Wild Robot is opening way ahead of expectations. Deadline has the film now opening at about $35 million, which is about $10 million more than even the most optimistic industry estimates and $20 million or so ahead of my own predictions. Good for Dreamworks, as this really is one of the best movies they’ve ever made (check out Steve Seigh’s rave review right here). In the meantime, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is moving down to second place, with $15.5 million, which will easily put it past the $250 million domestic mark.

Sadly, Transformers One, despite excellent word-of-mouth, is crashing and burning at the box office, posting a huge 59% decline in week two for a $10 million weekend. With a $39 million domestic total, this one will be lucky to cross the $55 million mark by the end of its run, which is disastrous for the franchise. That’s too bad, as it’s actually a good movie! It seems this is one franchise that has maybe run its course, even if Paramount is still planning that crossover movie with G.I Joe. 

Meanwhile, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is already being dubbed Megaflopulous online after being beaten Friday night by the Indian Telugu-language flick, Devara Part 1 (which stars RRR’s N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), with Deadline having a hard time pegging the final number. They say it may total anywhere between $3.2-5 million, but either way, that’s a disastrous start for Coppola’s passion project. Truth be told, while I didn’t like the movie (at all – and you can see from my review) it makes me sad that the movie is collapsing so completely at the box office, as even if I didn’t like it – I still kinda think people should see it.

The post Box Office Update: The Wild Robot opening way ahead of expectations; Transformers One collapses in week 2 appeared first on JoBlo.

Transformers One is now playing in theaters, and many critics (including this one) say it’s the best Transformers movie ever made (disagree with that? Take our poll!) Yet, the film has been the subject of a bit of controversy, with some fans resenting that, for the first time in the movies, someone else is voicing Optimus Prime other than the legendary Peter Cullen, with Chris Hemsworth taking over the role. We recently sat down with Transformers One director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), who addressed the change head-on. 

“Peter Cullen is Optimus Prime,” Cooley said, adding, “he’s my Optimus Prime. That’s what I grew up with. That’s the iconic voice. And Chris and I talked a lot about that early on. And even before Chris came on, I was, you know, how, how are we going to do this? But the thing that really clicked for me was that this is Orion Pax. So it’s before he becomes Optimus Prime, which means he doesn’t need to have all the knowledge and the power yet to be Optimus.”

Indeed, much of the film revolves around Optimus in his early days, when he’s still just a miner (without the ability to transform) opposite his best pal, turned archenemy, D-16, later to become Megatron. Yet, as the film continues, Chris Hemsworth’s voice starts to take on a more Peter Cullen-like cadence.

“When I heard Chris’s voice, he’s got the weight to it,” said Cooley. “He’s got that power in his voice naturally. And so when we first met, we talked about it a lot, and we’re like, okay, Orion can be a little looser. He can be kind of a little more naive, a little more kind of, you know, shooting from the seat of his pants. And then Chris just brought that super charm that he has into the voice. And, I remember that moment when he’s, you know, we were reading through the script. And he, I think it was the speech that he’s giving to the miners that even in his performance, he was standing up a little straighter chest out and just kind of had, you know, the cadence of the power and just had the rhythm of, of starting to sound like Optimus. I got goosebumps because I thought it worked so well.”

Cooley also weighed in on the movie’s vibe, which shifts dramatically throughout the film. As it starts, Orion Pax and D-16 are like the Tango & Cash of Cybertron, only for their relationship to take a much darker turn. “When I first thought about this film, I just loved the idea of going from friends to enemies, I was thinking of Cain and Abel. And Ben-Hur, Spartacus, Ten Commandments. I love those movies, and they had this epic feel to them but with a very specific relationship to the core, and I was like this could be that. We can do our Cybertronian Ben-Hur.”

What do you think of Chris Hemsworth’s voice acting in Transformers One? Let us know in the comments!

The post Transformers One director on why Chris Hemsworth took over as Optimus Prime & how it’s a Cybertronian Ben-Hur appeared first on JoBlo.

Industry estimates for the weekend had Paramount’s Transformers One, the critically acclaimed animated prequel, easily winning the weekend box office race with about $40 million. In our box office predictions, we were somewhat more conservative, expecting the animated pic to earn about $30 million. Yet, in a surprise twist of fate at the weekend box office, the film underperformed pretty drastically, allowing Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to win the box office crown for the third week in a row, with the hit sequel making $26 million compared to Transformers One’s $25 million.

So what happened? It could be that audiences have just grown weary of the Transformers franchise, which has been on a downslide at the box office since back in 2017 when Transformers: The Last Knight earned about half what the previous instalment, Age of Extinction, did domestically. Since then, none of the Transformers movies have performed all that well domestically, with the highest grosser being Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, with $157 million. Yet, the franchise is still strong overseas, particularly in China, which is why the studio is still making them.

Transformers One was expected to reverse the downslide, being animated and sporting an all-star voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Scarlett Johansson. But, despite an amazing A CinemaScore rating, audiences just did not turn out to see the movie. The audience reaction could mean that the movie will be a word-of-mouth hit, but it faces steep competition next weekend from The Wild Robot, which earned raves out of TIFF.

All told, this is a fabulous result for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which now has a huge $225 million domestic total and should have no trouble passing about $270-ish, with a $300 million finish not out of the question. Blumhouse’s well-reviewed Speak No Evil fell a modest 49% to $5.8 million this weekend, which is good for a genre flick. It’s made just over $21 million so far and should end up with a $30 million-ish gross.

It managed to beat Lionsgate’s Never Let Go, which continued the studio’s disastrous reign at the box office with a poor $4.5 million opening. At the end of the day, the movie’s hook just wasn’t enough to pull in a genre audience despite the presence of Halle Berry in the lead. The studio’s slate isn’t likely to get any better, with them also distributing Francis Ford Coppola’s critically maligned Megalopolis next weekend. 

Another horror flick, Mubi’s demented (and awesome) The Substance, underperformed this weekend, only making $3.1 million despite amazing reviews. It was beaten by Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which made $3.9 million for a smashing $627 million plus total. The controversial documentary Am I Racist?, earned $2.53 million, bringing its total to a decent $9 million (quite good for an independently distributed doc). At the same time, the biopic Reagan added another $1.7 million to its coffers for a $26.5 million total, with a potential $30 million finish in reach. Finally, the K-pop concert film Jung Kook: I Am Still made $1.42 million for a $2.57 million total, while Alien: Romulus started to close out its theatrical run with $1.32 million and a $103 million domestic total.

Next weekend sees the release of The Wild Robot. Will it be able to finally take down Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? Let us know in the comments!

The post Weekend Box Office: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice beats Transformers One in a surprise upset appeared first on JoBlo.

With Transformers One earning the best review in the franchise’s history, we want to know how you think it ranks in the pantheon of Transformers films. Is it better than the very best of the Michael Bay films? Does it outrank the critically acclaimed Bumblebee? Is it even better than the animated classic, Transformers: The Movie? Let us know by taking the poll below!

The post Poll: What’s Your Favorite Transformers Movie? appeared first on JoBlo.

Despite excellent reviews and good word-of-mouth from fans, Transformers One is having a bad time at the box office this weekend. Deadline states the highly anticipated animated prequel is only on track for a $26 million weekend. That’s just a little less than the $30 million we predicted – which was way more than industry projections, which saw the film opening with $40 million (wishful thinking).

There’s a good chance Transformers One will be beaten at the box office by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in its third weekend, with that movie on track for a terrific $25 million. And Transformers One isn’t the only good movie struggling to find an audience this weekend. The Substance, one of the best body horror movies since The Fly, only looks like it will make in the $2.5-3 million range. It’s being distributed by the streamer MUBI, who’ve opted to capitalize on the buzz and give it a big 2000-screen release, but those numbers are fairly anemic, which is a shame as it’s a great movie.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate continues its seemingly cursed run at the box office with Never Let Go, a Halle Berry-led horror flick that will only open in the $4 million range. The movie also earned a poor C+ CinemaScore rating. Next weekend won’t be any better for them, with Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis on track for another disastrous opening. 

One of the strangest things about this weekend isn’t what’s opening in theaters but rather what’s not opening, with Apple opting to only give the George Clooney/ Brad Pitt action comedy Wolfs a 50-screen limited release. Had it gone wide, it would have likely performed decently, but after a bad run of movies in theatres, Apple is changing its release strategy in a big way.

What are you seeing in theatres this weekend? Let us know in the comments – and if Wolfs is playing near you, check it out!

The post Box Office Update: Transformers One and The Substance struggling to find an audience appeared first on JoBlo.

Form up, Transformers fans! The first animated film in the franchise in almost 40 years, Transformers One, is rolling out in theaters, and we want to know what you think about Paramount and Hasbro Entertainment’s latest adventure featuring the Robots in Disguise!

Doesn’t it feel good to see the Transformers on the silver screen in an animated format? I still recall when The Transformers: The Movie screened in theaters in 1986. Peter Cullen and Frank Welker owned as the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively, with the great Leonard Nimoy as Galvitron, Susan Blu as Arcee, and Orson Wells as Unicron. The 1986 animation even included profanity! If you know, you know. After so much time has passed, we’re ready to hit the road with a new Transformers film that delves into Optimus and Megatron’s origins and sees how two inseparable friends became sworn enemies.

The official synopsis for Transformers One reads:

“TRANSFORMERS ONE is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.“

JoBlo’s Editor-in-Chief, Chris Bumbray, reviewed Transformers One, saying it’s the best Transformers movie to date. In his review, Chris said, “One thing worth noting is that the audience I saw this with REALLY seemed to love the movie. They laughed and cheered throughout, and when it was over, the audience gave it a huge round of applause, which is something you really never get at free screenings in my neck of the woods. There’s a reason why Paramount’s been doing so many word-of-mouth screenings, as this has the potential to be a major hit, and, again, it’s the best Transformers movie ever made by a wide margin.”

But enough about us. We want to know what you think about Transformers One! Sound off in the comments section below and share your thoughts about what some say is the “best Transformers movie” ever made! If you must divulge spoilers, please warn readers before dropping any knowledge bombs. Additionally, let us know who your favorite Transformer is when you share your thoughts.

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Paramount and Hasbro Entertainment’s Transformers One is shifting into high gear at the box office with $3.3M in Thursday preview screenings. The “More Than Meets the Eye” premiere began on Wednesday, with fan screenings at 7 pm and Thursday previews starting at 5 pm. The first Transformers animated film in nearly 40 years (God, I feel so old) is performing better than other family-oriented films this year, including Paramount’s IF ($1.75M), The Garfield Movie ($2.3M), and Trolls Band Together. Transformers One even drove past Travis Knight’s live-action Bumblebee film, which bowed to $2.15M.

With Transformers One rolling out to 3,978 domestic theaters, including IMAX and PLF screens, the animated origin story could burn enough rubber to reach $34M over its opening weekend. According to analysts, if positive word of mouth spreads and parents want to beat what remains of the heat in some areas, Transformers One could collect $40M or more. It’s worth noting that reviews for Transformers One are impressively positive, with an 87% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes after 98 reviews.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Chris Bumbray, gave Transformers One an 8/10 in his review. He said his audience laughed and cheered throughout the adventure. There was a massive round of applause at the end, which you don’t typically get at free screenings. Chris says the film is “goregous to look at,” while the animation feels fresh and distinctive.

On the horror end of the film spectrum, Demi Moore’s body horror film The Substance earned $512K in previews, comprised of Wednesday 7 p.m. showtimes in 785 theaters and another $327K in previews from 1,455 theaters last night from 4 p.m. showtimes.

We raved about The Substance during TIFF, saying the satiric and disturbing thriller would become highly controversial. There’s a chance it won’t play with older audiences, but younger genre audiences will eat it up. Some critics left the screening toward the end as the film’s contents became even more extreme.

Are you going to the movies this weekend? I’ve tickets for a 9:30 showing of The Substance tonight and hope to catch Transformers One on Saturday or Sunday. We’ll see. Let us know what your plans are in the comments section below.

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