TF6 will be held in limbo.

Bumblebee movie budget will be slashed. It will end up being "OK" but fail financially.

All TF movies will go on hold for several years.

Sometime around 2021 they will start a rebooted movie series.

That will be the do or die moment for the movies' future.

If the 2021/2022 reboot fails, TFs will go into "milk the adult nostalgia fans" nearly 100% and will burn through us '80s kids until we age out.

TFs will then enter He-Man/GI Joe days.

 

The writers room should have been birthed at the end of 2007.

 

I want the universe established by the first three Bay films to survive and continue growing. I want the Bumblebee movie to succeed and I want to learn more about the Allspark, The Fallen, Sentinel, Optimus and Megatron, etc.

 

It's already up to 430 world wide as of today.
I don't think it's crazy to say it makes another 200 mil.
With a budget of 217, I think that will not be considered a failure by any means.

Then again Avengers 2 was considered a failure in many eyes...

 

Success is measured by expectation I reckon.

 

217 million budget but not including the heavy marketing and distributions. If you include those two, total budget is probably over 300 million and China takes 70% of the ticket sales. And where will it get those 200 millions from when it's underperforming in major countries?

 

Where the hell are those 200 millions coming from? You? Have you read the Forbes article I posted? It's underperforming in major markets, especially in China.

 

I feel like as far as continuing where TLK left off, there is not much ‘interesting’ and ‘game changer’ plot points left. At least nothing they can pull off successfully.

I fear BumbleBee will do badly because these films have left a bad taste in people’s mouths, they won’t even consider seeing it.

The only film idea I can see sucking back fans of the films, and maybe even G1 is a prequel about the war on Cybertron. All robot cast, a film about this huge war between the two factions we’ve heard so much about. It will bring in people who are curious about how all this started. And no Michael Bay. BUT, that seems out of the question because it would be completely CGI and cost a ridiculous amount of money.

 

Bumblebee and Transformers 6 will still happen.

 

Bumblee will get made and probably TF6, but under a whole other circumstances. IF Paramount managed to make TF6 into the Fast Five turnaround like what that movie did for F&F franchise, then I'll give it a shot. But people, brace yourselves for some interesting news in the upcoming weeks. And I think it won't be good news....

 

I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it does.

 

Paramount wasn't looking for TLK to make a slight profit, which is the best case scenario at this point. They won't lose money, but they really needed to make a lot more than they will.

 

If you have been following comics you should also know that the appealing to the female demographic has almost but all ended in failure for Marvel comics. According to various comics boards (please do some research), one of their few successes is the female "Wolverine". The rest such as Captain Marvel have been performing badly in sales. Why do you think Marvel gave us "Iron Heart" instead of making a female Iron Man outright?

According to sales personnel at retail in my country, interest in Star Wars among young boys is almost all but extinct like the Sith. Isn't it interesting to note that Episode VII "coincidentally" didn't have a "young male Jedi" hero this time round?

Asking young boys play with Rey figures is like asking them to play with Barbie. How do I know? Because my sons, friends' sons and our nephews refuse to play with the Rey action figures. Rey is a 'girl' toy. And guess what? This even extents to her role-play light saber toy. Our daughters and nieces aren't interest in Rey because they're still into Barbie and Frozen.

You should also check out the various forums at the collective 'groan' that Star Wars Battle Front 2 that we have a 'female lead' again - after Episode VII and Rogue One.

With regards to TFs, I have female friends who find the scenes of Izabella (?) and Vivian a "waste of time".

I don't mind if a franchise tries to gather more numbers but not at the expense of the main demographic (which comprises of males or young boys). The 'trade-off' to appeal to the female demographic doesn't cover or make up the loss of the male demographic.

 

That's a lot of anecdotal evidence to try to back up a "no girl's" stance.

Actual figures do not seem to back up your claims on Star Wars toy sales:

Star Wars Force Is Strong for the Toy Industry

‘Star Wars’ Helps Licensed Merchandise Sales Grow to $251.7 Billion

http://nypost.com/2016/09/01/star-wars-fuels-toy-industry-to-record-sales/

Data says Star Wars is more popular and profitable than ever, so I'd need some real evidence to support the theory that having Jin and Rey as leads has "hurt Star Wars". Especially in a year where Wonder Woman (featuring a strong female lead) has been a smash hit movie this year, surpassing expectations.

So I really don't see how bringing in female fans is some kind of formula for failure.

 

*Cracks knuckles* Ah, comic sales, you have entered my zone. Ok, of the new women-lead books, Wolverine and Ms. Marvel and Spider-Gwen and the women Thor title and even Moon Girl are still ongoing, Silk and Squirrel Girl each lasted two years. All of 'em are still going to be showing up in comics. Heck, Gwenpool and Patsy Walker each got a year and a half.

Most new characters often last 6-12 issues, often less. The list of failed new characters and titles in comics is long and sordid, and by historic standards the batting average here is great. Like, compare to the male-dominated nu52 launch at DC, where they had 14 books last equal or less than Gwenpool at the same time.

And as Silk and Patsy Walker are ending? So are, say, Thunderbolts, Ghost Rider, and a number of others.

Don't confuse those who don't want it to succeed with it actually not succeeding, the two are very, very different things!

Star Wars sales drove a 4.4% increase in global licensed merchandise sales in '16

"Retailers continue to be optimistic about 2017 — in part due to Hollywood’s growing dependence on established franchises and efforts to fill blockbusters with powerful women."

4.4% on a global scale suggests your account is rather anecdotal, and not statistically normal, and retailers have taken the exact opposite lesson of what you claim.

Yea, some guys complain about anything, amirite?

Also: Did they seriously forget about Finn? TFA had co-leads.

I mean, people still want developed, interesting women. Bay doesn't exactly give 'em the best roles. The lesson here is not 'less women.'

Data suggests you're wrong. I mean, young males is already an incredibly heavily served demographic to begin with, but they aren't not-buying Star Wars or Transformers because there are also women in it. 4.4% on a global scale, that's gigantic.

 

Please read my post CAREFULLY:

I) I mentioned my country. You want me to go further, I'll add a neighbouring Asian countries. Most retailers in my country aren't bringing in the new waves anymore because Episode VII acton figures are still clogging the shelves.

II) I'm referring to action figures - which I should have specify. Rey figures are badly warming on the shelves along with Jyn

III) The sales figures you linked refer to a WIDE variety of merchandise such as Lego, model kits, remote control toys etc. I'll go so far to even suggest that these line-up are helping to boost sales.

If you want 'figures'...I suggest you do research on Marvel comic books instead where the numbers are falling. Star Wars IMO is just riding on the coat tails on the success of the previous movies just like the Bay movies were until the wheels came off.

As for Wonder Woman...you miss the point of what I'm trying to post. The character has always has her own base and is not like they're changing a demographic appeal. Let's face it, how many of us actually watch WW because of tie-ins to the upcoming Justice League movie?

The movie being a good movie was just a pleasant bonus that broke the "streak" of awful DCUC movies. And before you jump at me again, I did enjoy the WW movie.  

 

...and I think you shouldn't confuse about falling sales numbers with how long Marvel can sustain before pulling the plug on a title. But the sales numbers for Ms. Marvel and especially the female Thor are poor.

The "male" titles that you quote? The ones such as Thunderbolts, Ghost Rider have traditionally struggled with sales for the longest time. An example was the original GR, why do you think they keep rebooting the character? You want another traditional title that struggle? How about Dr. Strange?

Critics are saying Marvel can "afford" these failures because of Disney's money. Here's a fun fact, the original Marvel G1 comic was cancelled because of poor numbers but those numbers in this time and age would deem the title a financial success and it would still be 'ongoing'.

I'm not intentionally blow you off but I honestly don't have the time to debate and show links etc as I have more important things such as work.

Er, READ more post carefully I'm referring to MY COUNTRY and to the COMPLAINTS of sales personnel in MY COUNTRY, which is Singapore (not in some backwater region of China). Where we were probably the first to get some of the newer Marvel Legends (e.g. Mary Jane 2-pack, Home Coming Wave) and Masterpiece Movie Optimus and Bumblebee, all of which sold like HOT CAKES.

Oh yeah, the sales figures you guys like to quote? I'll like to point out that it covesr a wide range of merchandise such as Lego, model kits, remote control droids and what not. If anything I should have specified that I was referring to "action figures". Where major retailers in my country are not carrying the latest waves. And its just not my country but it seems that Rey and Jyn figures are also clogging toy shelves.

And in case you don't know there's been a strong backlash of comics and various male properties being victims of SJW....just feel free to do some research.

You want to use Finn as an example?! Do you know how badly portrayed Finn was in the Episode VII movie? Do you know that a couple of my black friends were offended by Finn character? They said he was like a "joke"character, showed up by a "white" woman.

Actually the female characters in the TF5 movies were the strongest I've seen across the various movies. Izabella and Vivian were brave and let's not forget Sam's gf in DOTM played a key role in egging Megatron, who indirectly saved Prime.

 

One thing that people need to remember is that for movies - especially these big budget blockbusters - much of the budget is payed for through product placement. For example, A whopping 71.11% of MoS's budget was payed for through promotions, so though the movie under performed at the BO (Though it was far from a bomb), the fact that the studio didn't even pay for much of it makes up for that fact.

Maybe, just maybe TLK had a lot of promotions.

 

you know, i could really go for a budweiser right about now..

 

They'll only hit reboot territory if the Bee movie flops horribly. My concern would be that maybe, franchise fatigue will make it flop, no matter what Knight and crew do to take the Bee movie onto a new direction. Either that, or Paramount overreacts to the whole thing and mucks with that movie's progress.