Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Paramount Confirms Cheaper Bumblebee Movie

Paramount pictures has confirmed that they plan to release a Bumblebee spin-off movie on June 8 2018 and they plan to produce it a cheaper cost than the Transformers films. The need to clarify was due to the initial announcement from Paramount that simply said they were releasing three Transformers films in the next three years. Its unclear if they referred to them as Transformers 5, 6, and 7 or if media outlets just assumed it. About half a hour later during their investor conference call Hasbro re-iterated the news only they were more specific saying it would be Transformers 5, a Bumblebee movie, then Transformers 6. It was interesting to read the news that day as could see which outlets re-wrote what Deadline, THR, etc had (incorrectly) reported versus which outlets verified and correctly combined the news reports. Deadline, etc just went the route of doing a separate news story about the 'Bee movie.
"There are characters in the Transformers universe that can be and should be made into their own movies,” Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey told The Hollywood Reporter. “We will make the first movie with Michael and go right into a Bumblebee movie, which will be at a lower cost.”
Which other characters are up for spin-offs was not mentioned nor what "cheaper" means. The Transformers films have been landing in between $150 to $200 million each so my best guess is they are hoping for $100 million or less cost. CGI is expensive so simply having Bumblebee as the only TF in robot mode in the movie would drop the cost significantly as would keeping him in vehicle mode as much as possible. I suspect a road movie mixed with Furious 7 vibe will be the script's goal. If this formula of key movie > spin-off > key movie sounds familiar, it is the same formula that Star Wars has committed to starting with The Force Awakens. Clearly Paramount is hoping to replicate to same box office success.

4 comments:

  1. I like the idea of Bumblebee spending time on the road, but he has to be going against something. Otherwise, it will not do as well as the others have financially if it's just Bumblebee trying to help a guy get a girl. People want to see the robots fighting robots, or at least other evil forces. I would personally like to see at least one Decepticon in the mix. That way it will still feel like it is part of the Transformers universe. The robots are what define this series. Just because it's a spinoff, that does not mean you can totally take out what made this series what it is.
    Also, I'd like to see him get his voice back. It would be nice since he did get it back in the first film, and it wasn't fair to take it away from him after he just got it back.

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  2. Bumblebee is getting way too much attention

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  3. Yes, Bumblebee needs to have his actual voice back. If Dan Gilvezan is down to do it, use him. I loved hearing him back doing Bee's voice in TRANSFORMERS:DEVASTATION. . .

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  4. I'm still hoping for a Peter Cullen Cameo as Optimus Prime driver in a Transformers movie...

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