Sir Anthony Hopkins Talks A Bit About Transformers: The Last Knight

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by SilverOptimus, Jun 11, 2017.

  1. Lord Ultron

    Lord Ultron Well-Known Member

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    Well, there are also the Ark and the Great Pyramid of Giza.
     
  2. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    Doesn't matter - this is the general public we're talking about. Additionally, one major factoid everybody seems to forget is that it has been a full decade since the first live action film. The very kids the first film was meant for are now college age and will have grown out of the franchise. The problem with trying to do this 'expanded universe' is that Transformers simply does not have the foothold nor the appeal with the general public to achieve something on the level of the MCU or Star Wars.

    And AoE's one trick was it was a special effects bonanza given special permissions from the Chinese government in what was otherwise a weak year for films. This time, no Chinese safety net, it's not the only special effects blockbuster in China trying such tactics, and it has to contend with the double whammy of effectively competing for the highest grossing spot with both Fate of the Furious and Beauty and the Beast, both of which exceeded the total box office take of DOTM by at least $100 million.

    It does no good looking at AoE in the perspective of a savant of the films. You have to look at it as just a film in a sea of films in the industry. The Domestic is going to not do well given the darker theme is going to scare off families to Cars 3 and franchise fatigue can not be ignored, either.
     
  3. Lord Ultron

    Lord Ultron Well-Known Member

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    We will see.
     
  4. Deadend

    Deadend Spark of Creation

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    Hopkins is awesome.

    Yup. And we'll see that Burnout is full of :yuck .

    Because kids are getting into the franchise with every re-run of the movies on TV. Kids are still watching the shows. Transformers is still a hot property. This one is set to do as well, if not better than the previous on all fronts in all markets.

    Transformers is one of those franchise properties that has longevity and history behind it. It's like Marvel in that way. Even with all the disdain Avengers 2 had, every film after has still done fantastic. Because Marvel itself is that loved. Transformers is no different. Every year new fans are coming into it. Every movie we get the naysayers trying to convince us it'll fail.
    Every movie proves that wrong.

    There is no doomsday scenario for the franchise.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
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  5. MindChamber

    MindChamber Multi-Media-Masta

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    Hot Rod looks like he belongs in a digimon cartoon
     
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  6. Chaos Prime

    Chaos Prime Combaticon

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    LOL! OMG that face. That has got to be one of the worst Bayformers faces. #Notrod.
     
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  7. RED342

    RED342 stoner sunshine

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    "plot"
     
  8. John TheDestroyer

    John TheDestroyer D&D newbie

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    How?
     
  9. Chaos Prime

    Chaos Prime Combaticon

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    Probbaly bc Notrod has a goofy cartoonish face.
     
  10. QLRformer

    QLRformer Seeker

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    I shouldn't have expected any major spoilers to begin with.

    For me, this was the most interesting part:
     
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  11. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    I beg your pardon?

    There's one thing you're forgetting, though - Transformers has only survived as long as it has because it constantly rebooted. The longest incarnation of the franchise up to this point? Movies. Second longest? G1. And we all know how G1 ended because it ran too long.

    I mean, we can easily pinpoint the downfall of G1 to the original film because they went and killed Prime. Granted, they've already done this in ROTF, but now Prime is straight up evil - doesn't matter if he's mind controled or not, he's still doing evil things in the eyes of the kids this movie is supposedly trying to sell a toyline to. And trying to replace Prime was a mistake as the late period of G1, well into the early 90s, is a prime example of how Hasbro lost faith in the core gimmick of transformation and tried to do a bunch of other shit to prop up failing profits - the *masters, pretenders, Action Masters, etc. but really none of it worked to save G1.

    No other series ever lasted this long, and for good reason - generational decay. You have to simply reboot the whole thing every few years to flush out the kids who are growing up and won't buy the toys, with the newer kids just coming into the target demographic, the reboot serving to restart the story so they don't lose interest by needing to know a whole bunch of backstory to understand the show, when they start where the story begins again. This is why after G2 failed to revitalize the brand, the complete overhaul that was Beast Wars with all new characters, plot, setting, etc. and strong writing put the dying brand back on the map.

    The movies are refusing to do this, which as a result mirrors the setting that led to the crash of G1 over thirty years ago. It can't last forever, but the films have already outgrown the demographic they started with, while the 'new fans' you point to have four films worth of backstory to sit through in order to fully understand TF5 in the unlikely event it actually does its job right. And even then you had the embarrassment of AoE where they went with a horrid style choice to rip off the bad guy from Terminator 2: Judgement Day to save a few bucks.

    And to top it all off, the films have one major flaw: the main bad guy never survives a film. Megatron? Dead. Fallen? Dead. Sentinel and Megatron? Dead. Lockdown? Dead.

    So, why bother getting to know the next villain...when chances are that the rip off of the sun-head boss from The Desolate Hope is probably going to die? Sure, she may not, but after four films expecting the formula that made a billion dollars twice over to change is unlikely.

    I'm no fool. I know TF5 is going to do at least decently enough that they're not going to reboot it. But the franchise is hurting in that RID is still a misfire (if Takara can't even put faith in a series even through total reinvention like TF GO was, then there's something seriously wrong) and there's nothing on the horizion to attract people who are turned off by the current franchise options. But a hard reboot right now, while Transformers is still popular, would have the best chance of retaining the existing fanbase that AoE didn't drive off, while also getting the interest of those who don't like the films anymore, in the idea it is something new.

    After all, that would potentially generate far more money than harping the same bullshit that's human-based Transformers that provably is entering a decline, while produced by a studio that's made some bad decisions in recent years and its only major lifeline is Transformers. It would be a gamble, but the Paramount of 2007 was willing to take that risk by producing a film based on a toyline of robots, whereas Paramount of 2017 is too scared to do anything but squander the gold-egg laying goose by driving it out too long.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
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  12. misternewuzer

    misternewuzer Predacon Secret Police

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    I really liked this response and simply wanted to say so.
     
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  13. Smitty.1981

    Smitty.1981 Well-Known Member

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    So The Fallen came to Earth because the sun was ripe, then the Allspark fallowed him, the Ark fallowed the Allspark and Megatron fallowed the Ark.
     
  14. Lord Ultron

    Lord Ultron Well-Known Member

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    Nope.
     
  15. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    Thanks!

    No, Fallen came to Earth, then the AllSpark followed - whilst Megatron followed the AllSpark because that's how he crashes in the arctic and turns into a Popsicle - and then sometime in the 1950/60s the Ark comes out from transwarp or whatever - having detected the AllSpark somehow - and hits the moon, prompting the human Space Race.
     
  16. Smitty.1981

    Smitty.1981 Well-Known Member

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    So it's The Fallen > the Allspark > Megatron > the Ark, but the Ark was after the allspark not Megatron, even though Megs and SP had some kind of deal worked out.
     
  17. Autobot Burnout

    Autobot Burnout ...and I'll whisper "No."

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    Chronologically, it's Fallen > Ark Leaves Cybertron > AllSpark > Megatron > Ark Crashes on the moon.

    The whole Megatron/Sentinel/Ark Departure thing happens before the war on Cybertron gets bad enough that the AllSpark is launched into deep space and Megatron goes after it, while the Ark doesn't reappear until the middle of the 1900s.
     
  18. Lord Ultron

    Lord Ultron Well-Known Member

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    There is no mention of the AllSpark in Dark of the Moon. Megatron says that he and Sentinel had a deal, to use the Space Bridge to bring Cybetron on Earth and enslave the human race to rebuilt the planet.
    Megatron wanted the AllSpark, he followed it on Earth and crashlanded.
    We don't know why the AllSpark come on Earth.
     
  19. gbm

    gbm Well-Known Member

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    Eh...doesn't really matter.

    Sir Alec Guiness thought he was involved in a rubbish film too at the time of shooting.
     
  20. Smitty.1981

    Smitty.1981 Well-Known Member

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    Wow this is confusing...