Transformers: The Last Knight Moments of 2016 Video

Via the Transformers Facebook page, here is a video that puts together some moments from the behind the scenes videos and social media snippets that had been posted online. No spoilers to worry about.

Producer Hints at The Last Knight Story

In an interview with Collider, Transformers: The Last Knight producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke a little bit about the movie's story. Essentially he says it will dive deeper into Transformers mythology and is its own movie that is not specifically designed to set up future movies. Below are the key parts and most of it was already covered via the set visit articles (when this interview was conducted).

Question: What is the basic thing going on here?
...I think one of the great things that came out of [the writers room], was – one was sort of refreshing ourselves in the depth of the Transformers mythology, which is actually quite impressive, and two was building it out, and taking some things–sort of the way the movie ended, you’re going, all right, it’s headed in that direction. ...So I think–I know–you’re going to get two pieces of the mythology that converge at the end. So that’s sort of the driving part of it, of the movie, I would say.

So how much is it now that you guys are thinking this is the first of many future movies, and laying those Easter eggs? Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. You’ve got to be careful with that stuff, because then you start thinking about the other movies and not about the one you’re making. There’s definitely, I would say, we definitely spent some time going “How does this link up and where are these other things going to go?” So I think in their initial construction in the writer’s room, and the initial sort of thinking, we spent a lot of time on that, thinking about the interrelationship. Now, when we’re making the movie, we don’t think a lot about it, it’s just what is in the script is in the script.

Does this set things up [for the Bumblebee movie]?
...two or three things in this movie that really have a meaningful aspect in terms of it, and then there’s a bunch of little things. But we’re not making this movie to set up the other movies.

Merry Christmas from BW Megatron

David Kaye continues his now traditional yearly holiday greeting as the voice of Beast Wars Megatron. Merry Christmas to all!

IDW March 2017 Transformers Comics

IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for March 2017. Four comics and one trade are coming. A hardcover collection of the Deviations stories from last year is coming but keep in mind only one single issue involved the Transformers. Otherwise its business as usual in the ongoing. There is a GI Joe vs Transformers "movie adaptation" one shot that is written and drawn by the same person that did the previous mini-series if a fan of his style. For the full details of IDW's other books including GI Joe, Ghostbusters, Star Trek, and more click here.

New Transformers 5 Poster Demands You Rethink Your Heroes

A new poster has been released for Transformers: The Last Knight that demands you "Rethink Your Heroes". The tag line goes along with the trailer that suggests that Optimus Prime has turned on the Autobots. Things to note is the ships(?) in the background that to me look a whole lot like pirate ships and a bit of Bumblebee's arm on the rock pile.

The other thing to note is the purple eyes of Optimus. Hardcore fans are familiar that this is the sign of Nemesis Prime which as the name suggests is an evil version of Optimus Prime. The character doesn't really have a comics presence. Really he just exists for the toy lines as a black and purple recolor of the same Prime mold. The character concept is based on Star Trek's Mirror Universe concept which TF fans sometimes refer to as the Shattered Glass universe. The core concept is straight forward - the Autobots are evil, the Decepticons are the good guys. Both sides retain their line-ups and logos, they just tend to have different color schemes and their moral code is the opposite of what we know them to be. Since mostly a toy line creation, sometimes Nemesis is Optimus turned evil but often it is a completely separate character.

So from a movie perspective this poster then brings up a few questions. Is this Optimus turned evil or a new character? Is he called Nemesis Prime in the story? As always speculate away in the comments. Thanks to Feris O. for the heads-up. Hi res versions of the poster are available on Michael Bay's flickr account.

Transformers: The Movie Extended The Touch Scene

Below is a video that edits together Transformers: The Movie with storyboards from the film to show what an extended sequence of the film would have been. Its what occurs early in the film when the song "The Touch" is playing as Optimus Prime lands and saves the day. Of note is the sequence finally explains how Devastator was taken out (vs Dinobot just shows the start of the fight but not the finish). This is not part of the recent blu-ray release of the movie but a fan creation via TFNation YouTube page.

The Last Knight Teaser Clocks 100M Views

Its only been a few days but the teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight passed 100 million views in just over a day. 93.6M views came in the first 24 hours already making it the 3rd most views trailer in 2016. Suffice it to say the Paramount marketing machine is probably very pleased with how their football debut worked out in audience awareness of the upcoming sequel which will hit theaters on June 23.

Transformers: The Last Knight Set Visits Reveal Movie Info

A press day event was held on August 5 while Transformers: The Last Knight was filming at Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac, Michigan. As is the tendency for such invite only events where the cost of going is picked up by the studio, the press enter a kind of gentleman's agreement to not post about the visit until a certain point in time as decided by the studio to help with their promotional push. In this case, that means the embargo wasn't lifted until until the first teaser trailer was released. From what I can tell it looks like the interviews and set visits were conducted as one large group as most of them shared the same experiences and quotes. Below are the main highlights from Collider and i09.

Highlights:
- TF5 is set several years after Transformers: Age of Extinction

- A scene involves a crash landing on an alien surface via a V-22 Osprey loaded with the core human cast of the film.

ET Behind the Scenes of Transformers: The Last Knight

Entertainment Tonight has posted a short video from the set of Transformers: The Last Knight when it was filming in England at a fake "Stonehenge" set so that the Bayhem could be filmed. Thanks to Feris O. for the link.

Transformers: The Last Knight Teaser Trailer

As promised by Michael Bay, here is the first teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight with voice over by Sir Anthony Hopkins. It took this long to be release because online premiere was waiting for it to air during half time on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Teaser screenshots here and here.

Bay Teases Transformers 5 Trailer Release in New BTS Video

In a video and tweet, Michael Bay teases the release of the Transformers: The Last Knight teaser trailer on Monday. No time was provided. The video (below) provides a brief look at some of the filming and action sequences for the film. The production recently completed re-shoots on the USS Carl Vinson which is why the references to a wrap seems to be coming about two months later then expected. Thanks to Feris O. for the heads-up.