by While it certainly has nothing to do with the cultural appeal of Marvel or Star Wars, the live-action Transformers franchise has been running for over 15 years, printing money for Paramount. This year we will get the seventh such movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beast.
This isn’t the first time this series has delved into Beast Wars territory – Transformers: Age of Extinction features a subplot involving the Dinobots – but it will be the first time that’s actually dedicated to a live-action Beast Wars movie. So I hope you’re ready to see some very large robotic animals beating each other up because that’s what you’re going to get from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
When is Transformers: Rise of the Beast coming out?
Transformers: Rise of the Beast hits theaters on June 9, 2023.
Do we have a trailer?
Oh yes, right here. Oh, and here’s the Super Bowl spot for more specifics. They’re light on the plot, but we’ve got great looks at this candy robot eye. And Optimus Primal (that robotic gorilla) offers a tantalizing warning that may simply indicate that this movie is about to turn out to be much stranger than it seems: “Of all the threats of the past and future, you’ve never come across anything like this. Does it imply time travel? Maybe.
What is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts about?
In the CGI animated TV series Beast Wars, the Beast Transformers were “upgrades” of the standard Autobots and Decepticons and lived hundreds of years after them, but here all the different types of Transformers are at the same time. If they keep that origin, time travel is likely to come into play – which is not out of the question considering the point from the trailer mentioned above and the director’s comment that referred to the Beast as “prehistoric animals traveling through time and space”. And, hey, it’s Transformers. Anything and everything is always on the table in this endearingly funny series.
The trailer wasn’t very informative on plot details, but there are a few things we do know. First, it’s a sequel to Bumblebee, and it’s set in the mid-90s – long before the events of Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie. In addition to the Maximals, the beast of the Autobots, we’ll meet two factions of animal Decepticons: the Predacons, who are just plain evil beasts, and the Terrorcons, a group of five particularly dastardly villains who can combine to form the massive Abominus. It’s possible that Abominus is the unprecedented threat that Optimus Primal warns Prime about in the trailer. But the leader of the Terrorcons in this movie is an original Transformer named Scourge, so it’s more likely that they’ll have something brand new up their metaphorical sleeves.
It’s still unclear if these post-Michael Bay Transformers movies will make any attempt to adapt (or retcon) to the timeline of the original five movies. But if so, then these Beast Transformers should have originated in the distant past, not the far future – the Dinobots from Age of Extinction have existed since the time of the actual dinosaurs. But I wouldn’t expect his narrative to be closely tied to any movie from the past.
What Transformers can we expect in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts?
As you might have expected, Rise of the Beasts features lots of different robots. As mentioned earlier, we have both Optimus Prime (voiced as always by Peter Cullen) and Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) at the head of two Autobot factions.
In addition to them, we also have: Mirage (Pete Davidson), who judging by the trailer seems to be the main “friend of the main character” Transformer in this movie instead of Bumblebee. Then there’s Scourge (Peter Dinklage), the original character who leads the Terrorcons in this movie. Airazor (Michelle Yeoh) is a robot that turns into a falcon. And of course, we have Bumblebee, who once again doesn’t speak, despite regaining his voice in the last movie. You can also expect Arcee, Wheeljack, Rhinox, Battletrap and many more.
Who directed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts?
The film was directed by Steven Caple Jr., best known previously for his work on Creed II. The film has five established writers, none of whom have previously been involved with the Transformers estate. One of these writers, Joby Harold, is credited with writing three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Who are the human stars of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts?
The two main characters are played by In the Heights star Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback of Judas and the Black Messiah.
Is anyone from the return of Bumblebee?
Despite being a sequel to Bumblebee, it doesn’t appear that any of the cast members of this movie will make an appearance. But that’s not all that shocking about the franchise – Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers film, Age of Extinction, was also a direct sequel that didn’t bring back the human cast members from the previous film. While it’s unfortunate that Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena seem to hang out on Rise of the Beasts, the robots really are the stars here.
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