Transformers Animated Film Announces Title, Voice Cast

During the Paramount presentation at an industry convention, more details about the Transformers animated film was revealed.  To start the film is called Transformers: One. The primary voice cast is Chris Hemsworth (Thor movies) as Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as Megatron, Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key (Reboot) as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm (Confess, Fletch) as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne (John Wick) as Alpha Trion. The animated movie is being done by ILM, directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), written by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Farreri with release set for July 19, 2024. Click here to see an image from the film and its title card. Would post here but Getty Images tends to be lawsuit happy.

Turns out the Transformers One title and the origin plan has been around for quite a while as I found two references to it in the site archives going back to 2015 and 2017. It was just so long ago that I completely forgot about it. Suffice it to say, this has been a movie literally eight years in the making.

No explanation on what the "One" part means but guessing part of it is a reference to the "Generation One" label that is used to zero in on the 1980s version of the characters in toys, cartoons, and comics. The story is set millions of years ago entirely on Cybertron, before the Transformers civil war started when Optimus Prime and Megatron were young and friends rather then enemies. Sentinel Prime in the Bay movies was a mentor of Optimus that betrayed him. In the IDW comics continuity, he was the leader of the planet who turned his position into a dictatorship who would tolerate no dissent. A leadership that was stopped by Megatron and Orion Pax working together. Pax succeeds him as the next Prime, named Optimus Prime. At this point I suspect the Bay film continuity will have little influence on the film story while the comics may provide inspiration but likely the story will go in a different and simplified direction compared to the IDW stories. Alpha Trion is essentially the wise old teacher with great advice, who seems to know everyone and everything who took a particular shine to Orion Pax. Elita, also called Elita-1 in the comics and cartoon universes, is the girlfriend of Orion Pax/Optimus Prime. There is way more to her story then that but I suspect that will be the core purpose of the character in the movie.

New Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Introduces Unicron

The new trailer for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn't holding back on some of the spoilers as its makes clear who the film's big bad is - Unicron.  Also verified is the voice of Unicron will be Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) and Scourge is voiced by Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones).

First introduced in Transformers: The Movie (1986), Unicron is a planet sized Transformer that likes to consume inhabited planets for energy and yes he does have a robot alt mode. Depending on lore, he is the twin to Primus, the god/creator of the Transformers whose body is Cybertron but for the movies there is no telling. The character was hinted at in Transformers: The Last Knight where the story seemed to going in the direction of Earth being Unicron's alt mode but that story thread went away with the new direction of the movie franchise. With this new trailer is more posters for the movie.

New Details on Animated ILM Transformers Movie, Release Date

This year brings Transformers: Rise of the Beasts but next year has another movie set for release with a Transformers animated movie aiming for release on July 19, 2024 and directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4). Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer on the Transformers franchise since the first Bay film, spoke with Collider about the film providing some information on the story.

The key takeaways from the interview with di Bonaventura is the film is set entirely on Cybertron, will explore the "origin story of young Megatron and young Optimus" and how their friendship shifted into war. He also described as "the origin story of of all Transformers" which he later elaborated on saying " origins of the society, and what broke it apart." The story is such that they can do a "natural trilogy" if the first film is successful enough. As for why an animated movie, he said " If you tried to make this live-action, it would probably be a billion-dollar movie or something." The key quote on story is below.

"You're going to see a lot of the origins of the society, and what broke it apart. The analogy for me is a bit like Krypton when you saw the planet falling apart, and all that. We're not there for a short time, we're there the entire time of the movie, we're on Cybertron, but we are in the challenge that, if you know the lore, they begin to question the hierarchy of how their society has gotten stratified, and how the common man doesn't have the voice, entirely, that they want to have. We're following very true to the origin story of it, and so it's really fun, too, because I've gotten to see some of it – it's not fully executed by any stretch of the imagination, but hearing Optimus and Megatron not as who we know them as, which we see their maturation in this experience. So, in a sense, you're hearing a different character because you're hearing them before they have matured."

Until this movie, the only place you could really get an origin story for Autobots vs Decepticons (called the Great War) that has been central to the franchise is the IDW comics books. Even then, that origin is so spread out, told in bits and pieces over the years that is difficult to have a cohesive story. The origin was also restarted when IDW relaunched the comics franchise in 2019. I tried to write a summary but its pretty complicated. The very short version is the planet's Autobot leadership became corrupted by the upper class and through some events declared planetwide martial law. Orion Pax and Megatron worked together to eventually overthrow it as the abuses mounted. As a result of all the Autobot corruption he had to wade through (including killing two Primes), Megatron decided only he should lead the planet instead of Optimus Prime, who was anointed as leader by the true Matrix of Leadership. I suspect a movie version will cut through the complexity and focus on the rise of Megatron and reluctant leader Orion Pax who joins his cause against the corrupt government with difference in leadership styles and morality playing a huge part in how they eventually become enemies.

Update: Collider posted a little bit more of their interview with di Bonaventura where he revealed, "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to divulge it, but I'm going to. ILM is doing the animation." Industrial Light & Magic got its start on the Star Wars films and is more or less responsible for nearly every single visual effects breakthrough used in movies (including the previous Transformers films) so what they do with Transformers should be amazing. As far as quality, I believe the last animated film they did was Rango which they won an Oscar for.

Rise of the Beasts Reveals Cheetor Voice Actor

Transformers Instagram account has revealed a new voice cast member for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Tongayi Chirisa (Mayfair Witches) is voicing Cheetor, joining prevousily announced voice cast members Ron Perlman (Optimus Primal), Michelle Yeoh (Airazor), and David Sobolov (Rhinox).

Chirisa commented on his casting on his Instagram account writing "So there is a story to this!!! Per the usual standard .. I had to sign an NDA, so I had NO IDEA what I was reading for.. it was only when I was in the booth to do my voice over that it dawned on me that I was reading for TRANSFORMERS Like what!!!🤯🤯🤯🤯 I totally geeked out in the moment.. Man, to say this is mad exciting is an understatement... So thankful. So honored, so blessed!!!! Massive shout out and THANK YOU to @stevencaplejr for putting your boi on! Appreciate you, fam!!!"

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Final Four TV Spot and Statue Tour Continues

For NCAA college basketball Final Four semi finals, Paramount+ aired a TV spot that turned the court to "a 1990’s-era Brooklyn outdoor basketball court—alluding to the setting of the upcoming film."

The effect is pretty good considering its taking a live shot and putting the transformation sequence on top of it with a look at Optimus Primal and Prime as they transform.

In addition, a reminder that the two statues of those characters continues its world tour to help promote the movie that will hit theaters on June 9, 2023.