Bumblebee In US Theaters Today, New Clips

A friendly reminder that Bumblebee is now in US theaters. Some other countries either already have it or will be getting it soon. In the meantime below is a clip of the fight between 'Bee and Blitzwing. After that is Hailee Steinfeld on Jimmy Fallon with another clip. Additionally below are a few quotes from an io9 article about developing the story for movie. In short it basically confirms (as if any doubt), that this is a prequel to the Bay films.

“If we’re going to tell an origin story about a Transformer, it made sense we would set it in the era that the Transformers originated, the mid-’80s,” [writer Christina] Knight told io9. “Which is perfect for me because that’s when I was exposed to them. I was a child of that era and it was an opportunity to go back and draw some of these aspects of my childhood that really meant a lot to me.”

The movie hasn’t changed a whole lot since I first pitched in summer of 2015,” Hodson, who is also writing the upcoming Birds of Prey and Batgirl, told io9. “I pitched it then and obviously they went and made the other movie. Then I wrote the first draft of this in the fall of 2016 and it honestly has stayed true. Certainly, the big broad strokes of the emotional journeys, key set pieces, all remain the same. Now, it’s gotten bigger in some ways. We’ve added more fun. We got to go to Cybertron! But the heart of it really remained the same.”

“The important thing was not only that it had some connective tissue with the films Michael has made but that it had some deep connective tissue with the origins of the series,” [director Travis] Knight said.

According to Knight, problems arose because many felt “Michael’s aesthetic has been the defining aspect of these live-action films” and that there was a sense of “this is what a Transformers film is.” Eventually, though, he was able to coax them into it.

“People got on board pretty quickly but there was a little bit of hesitation,” he said. “[But] it was a real thrill bringing these characters to life in the way that I’d always envisioned them on the big screen. I was having the time of my life.”

“I had this whole thing boarded where we’re where we see [Decepticon leader] Megatron and he comes in like Sauron, just blowing shit up and laying waste to everything,” Knight said. However, he then realized in this world, Megatron is currently frozen on Earth, as seen in 2007's Transformers, so that was out.

“So even though I really wanted to see G1 Megatron on the battlefield at the fall Cybertron, I couldn’t do it,” he said. “But I wanted to fit as much of this G1 stuff I loved in there, and so I put my favorite characters in. Obviously there are ones I wish I could put in there, and I would love to see an entire movie about the fall of Cybertron because I think it’s awesome, but just to be able to visit it for a moment, to see the Cybertron of my imaginations on the big screen, it was a real thrill.”