John Cena will end like Johnson, making movies every year

 

Well it is one of the lessons. AOE and DOTM had grossed big because of the little competition. Obviously the story and other aspects are important but the competition is really important.

 

How about making quality movies, with intelligent, emotional stories and characters first and foremost? That's how you can build and expand into a bigger cinematic universe too. You need steady foundations. The Bayverse, like it or not, was made up as it went along. The aesthetics and lore are all over the place, constantly clashing with itself on a million different fronts. It was not created with the goal of expansion. And whatever the writers' room came up with, didn't help TLK. So, the lesson here is... Hard reboot. Really, take the time, find the right people, who have a true understanding and passion for the material and do it naturally. Don't just force it just because everything has to be a cinematic universe nowadays. Transformers can be even more than what Marvel's doing, potential-wise, if they just handle it with a bit more care than they have in the last 10-15 years (with few exceptions here and there like IDW comics, Cybertron games and maybe TF: Prime).

 

Hang on, I'm just going to the bathroom to see if I have a goatee.....