Stephen King Hated This $708M Action Classic So Much It Was the Only Movie He Walked Out Of

30 years of the life of 76-year-old Stephen King are closely connected with cinema. More than a hundred films have been made based on King's works – he is one of the most adapted authors in the world, largely thanks to a step taken at the very beginning of his career: any film school graduate can make a movie based on any of his stories for a symbolic one dollar.

Some of these movies become disasters, some become masterpieces, and the author himself does not hesitate to give extremely honest reviews of the adaptations of his works.

King can be called a cinephile in the truest sense of the word – he regularly publishes reviews not only of movies based on his stories, but also of projects that have nothing to do with him.

Stephen King Couldn't Make It Through Transformers

And there's every reason to believe that the movie the author hated the most was 2007's Transformers. Stephen once revealed:

“I have walked out of only one movie as an adult: Transformers.”

Perhaps the reason for such criticism lies in King's personal attitude toward cars. Many of his characters have died in car accidents, and in 1999, it almost happened to King himself: the 51-year-old writer was hit by a car.

In addition to a broken femur and multiple fractures in his right leg, he suffered injuries to his head and right lung. He spent almost a month on a respirator, and it was a miracle that his leg was not amputated, but the writer was unable to sit for another year.

Transformers Is Not As Bad As King Says

Although the Transformers franchise has lost all its charm in 17 years, King's criticism of the first film still seems too harsh. The director, Michael Bay, initially refused to make the movie, calling it a stupid flick about toys. But producer Steven Spielberg managed to convince him.

The first film in the future franchise was a huge hit with audiences, grossing an impressive $708 million at the worldwide box office. Fans of the animated series were unhappy that the plot focused more on people’s history, and the design of the Transformers was greatly altered. But for the viewers unfamiliar with the universe, the movie was a huge success.

Transformers is still impressive when it comes to technical nuances – each shot with special effects took at least 38 hours, and the robots themselves were created with incredible precision, taking into account the laws of physics.

And thanks to a perfect balance of genres – adventure, sci-fi, action and comedy – Transformers became an almost perfect blockbuster that loyal fans still revisit today. It's just that Stephen King is not one of them, and we respect that.

Source: Stephen King on X