Transformers' Biggest Box Office Flop Was The Best Movie Franchise Could Ever Offer

Bumblebee has become a new part of the franchise, which in ten years has gone from the champion in the world of blockbusters to an absolute laughingstock, almost a household name for soulless movie attractions.

Just a few years ago, Transformers made billions, while The Last Knight, released in 2017, barely made a profit.

Bumblebee, which focused on the fan-favorite yellow Transformer, grossed $467 million on a $135 million budget and became the biggest box office failure of the whole franchise.

In this case, the box office became more of an anti-indicator – Bumblebee unfortunately came out at a time when the interest in Transformers had almost completely died, along with the hope that the franchise could still offer something other than extremely long fights between giant robots and one-dimensional characters.

Bumblebee doesn't feel like part of the overstuffed narrative Michael Bay has been building for so long.

Of course, the outward signs remained – there were some extremely pretentious scenes and a bit of fan service – everything that should connect the movie to its overloaded, dead universe.

However, director Travis Knight apparently had little interest in soulless robot wars. And this is quite noticeable: the scenes on Cybertron are the worst thing in the movie.

They seem to have been added to Bumblebee post factum, just because it was necessary.

Even the colorful, megalomaniacal action – the main thing the Transformers were loved for in their brief years of fame – is greatly transformed in Knight's hands to just a way to move the story along. Knight also has a sense of proportion – there are no half-hour fights and pointless slow-motion in the movie.

Travis Knight has made a movie that stands out from all the other installments of the franchise: a sweet family fantasy, a kind of homage to The Iron Giant, where a fantastic concept is placed at the center of an incredibly touching story, where people are more important than any special effects.

Its difference from previous Transformers is well illustrated by one detail: in Bumblebee viewers see the faces of the characters more often than in all previous installments combined.

Travis Knight is really interested in characters, regardless of how naive their archetypes are or how simple their personal dramas.

As for the ending, it could make even the toughest of Transformers fans cry their eyes out.