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Via entertainment website Collider, we have a new interview with film producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, which touches upon plot points of the upcoming Paramount live-action movie Transformers: The Last Knight. There are some definite spoilers about the plot, among some pointers about names, more names involved in the future Bumblebee spin-off movie, and so steer away
In between getting to see Bay work up close for the first time and watching tons of explosions and gunfire, I was able to participate in a group interview with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
During an extended conversation with one of the few people that’s been involved in all the Transformers movies besides Michael Bay, he revealed how The Last Knight came together, how the film explores the Transformers mythology, what’s different about this sequel, how they determine which characters to include, if they listen to the fans when making the films, future sequels, the status of the Bumblebee spinoff, if people need to have seen the first four installments to understand The Last Knight, how Grimlock plays a larger role, their relationship with Hasbro, and so much more. If you’re a fan of Transformers, I promise you’ll love this interview because it’s loaded with info. Check out what he had to say below.
[...]
Are there direct connections, though, that you would see to the Bumblebee spin-off of things in this movie? Does this set things up?
Di Bonaventura: Sometimes is the answer. It’s not always, because I think then it feels like you’re really trying to widget it all together, and it becomes a little too neat. But I think–I don’t think, I know–some of the things will have a very direct relationship. You’ll see some things in here that are laying a pipe. You won’t necessarily know that it’s laying a pipe for another movie, but it’s there.
So there’s probably, in a really meaningful way, two or three things in this movie that really have a meaningful aspect in terms of it, and then there’s a bunch of little things. But we’re not making this movie to set up the other movies. That’s what I’m trying to say. If you get too carried away with that, you stop thinking about this movie.
And this movie, the two lines of mythology in a sense give you freedom to go a lot of different places later on that may or may not directly relate to another movie, but it’s opening up the universe in a way that I think, in that way it’s probably the most provocative, in terms of the movie. It’s opening a really large universe of what Transformers is, and where they’ve come from, and how we relate to them, and how they relate to themselves.
[...]
I’m curious where you guys are at on the Bumblebee?
Di Bonaventura: It’s being written.
Can you say who the writers are?
Di Bonaventura: Christina Hodson is the writer.
Is there a plan–I think it has a release date, if I’m not mistaken.
Di Bonaventura: I think the Paramount release said ’18. I think it said 2018. I don’t know if they put an actual date, but I believe they–honestly, that release came out about 4 months ago, and all I’m trying to do is get it ready as soon as I can!
[...]
Is this one of these movies where–will people have to have seen the first four to enjoy this film?
Di Bonaventura: No, no. That’s another conscious thing. The opening of the film will introduce the sort of exploration of the mythology that we’re going to do. Therefore, it’s not necessary to have seen the films before, because it’s going to establish the–let’s call it the mystery of the movie, and the direction the movie is going to go in.
That was a very conscious attempt, because that’s the other thing you forget as a film maker. Not everybody–you kind of fell like everybody’s seen it, so they can come right along for the ride. So the opening sequence, which is probably–I don’t know, it’s been a while since I counted the pages, but I’ll say ten pages, sets the mystery of the movie, of this movie. If you’ve never seen another Transformers movie, you don’t need to.
[...]
Was that Grimlock being more in the film–was that a nod to fans that wanted to see more Dinobots, or more action with the Dinobots?
Di Bonaventura: I think everybody wanted to see more Dinobots, including ourselves, you know what I mean? We all were like god, we wish we could have found a way in that story to include them more. So that was one of the hopes/priorities going into this, was to try to find a way to bring them back into the stories?
So is it more than Grimlock, or mostly Grimlock?
Di Bonaventura: There’s a few others, but Grimlock is, to me–I like Grimlock the most, so that’s probably why I talk the most about it, you know? And I just saw a sequence, so that’s probably why it’s on the top of my head. He’s funny. He’s like a naughty dog in this movie. He’s really sheepish when he does something wrong. He’s a great character. He’s really–we’re bringing out a side of him that you’re going to like–you’re going to relate to.
[...]
If you’re introducing a new villain, is Galvatron/Megatron still around? Does he play any role in this?
Di Bonaventura: Yeah, Megatron for sure is around. I mean, are we talking about some of the ones that are…
Staffer: You can talk about some of the new ones.
Di Bonaventura: So if you go back in the mythology, how Transformers were actually created, where did it start, where did they go from being a sort of a slave-race to a sentient race–we’re delving into that aspect of the mythology, so the characters that are involved in there are Megatron before he’s Megatron, Optimus before he’s Optimus, the Librarian, the Quintessons, there’s a whole group of things that have to do with how, in a sense, the Transformers were birthed, and also with how they were divided. What brought up the division, and what were the jealousies involved.
So I think on that level, you’re going to deal with things that feel from a stakes level higher, because of the importance of the sort of thought, right? There’s still, of course, the threat to the world and that sort of threat we have, but I think that threat is amplified now, because you’re going to feel why certain aspects of our world, why we’ve been fighting in a sense.
It's not entirely news, but with slow news week, we'll take what we can - and we doget some cool looking visuals in this highlights video from 2016, posted by the official Transformers: The Last Knight Twitter account. You can check it out embedded below, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!
Remember that billboard poster we saw way back when in Times Square? It looks like, since the trailer, it's started to roll out at cinema venues too - this sighting below is from fellow Seibertronian Scottimus Prime, who spotted it at the AMC Loews Stony Brook, NY, during a viewing of Star Wars: Rogue One. Check it out!
The Transformers Facebook Page has released a new picture for us to check out, this time in the form of the toy packaging for the upcoming voyager class Premier Edition Optimus Prime! The new packaging features a new image of Prime charging out out of the lower left corner, with the toy itself visible through the window, much like the regular voyager releases of late. It also has The Last Knight logo on the bottom below the name, along with Transformers printed vertically along the right side. Check out the image below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Directly from Paramount pictures, we have a new poster for the upcoming fifth instalment in the live-action movie series for the Transformers. As we've seen in the teaser trailer, Optimus Prime seems to have taken a turn for the worse in The Last Knight, out in June 2017 - the new poster seems to tease the same, as it asks us to rethink our heroes... check it out, and join the discussion in the Energon Pub!
From the official Transformers Facebook page, we have another look at what is probably the final retail version of the previously seen The Last Knight Premier Edition Optimus Prime, as featured in an 'evolution' video of the character's toys through the Paramount live-action movies, from 2007 to now, via Age of Extinction, Dark of the Moon and Revenge of the Fallen. Check out the clip, and enjoy the screenshot provided!
We just received news from Paramount that their teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth instalment in the live.action series directed by Michael Bay, reached 100 million views after its debut, skyrocketing to the most viewed trailer in the history of the studio. Check out the press release below!
And why not, take another look at the trailer:
MICHAEL BAY'S "TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT" TRAILER REACHES 100M VIEWS FOLLOWING ITS DEBUT ON DECEMBER 5
THE TRAILER IS THE BIGGEST LAUNCH FOR PARAMOUNT IN THE STUDIO'S HISTORY
HOLLYWOOD, CA (December 7, 2016) - The trailer for Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT has reached 100M views following its debut on December 5. A first look at the Paramount Pictures film was released to the world during Monday Night Football and quickly became the studio's biggest trailer launch to date.
The trailer saw 93.6M views in 24-hours, making it the third highest viewed trailer of 2016. Following the trailer's release, TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT trended on all major social media outlets, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. In China, where the trailer saw 16M views in 24-hours, the film was Weibo's #1 trending topic.
Director Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS franchise has earned over $3.7 billion at the worldwide box office. TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT, the fifth film in director Michael Bay’s global blockbuster franchise, is based on Hasbro’s Transformers™ Action Figures.
Paramount Pictures will release the film in theaters on June 23, 2017.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. Paramount controls a collection of some of the most powerful brands in filmed entertainment, including Paramount Pictures, Paramount Animation, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Home Media Distribution, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., and Paramount Studio Group.
While we're still letting the flavour of the teaser trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight settle, and opinions are being formed, we have another sidelook at a corollary piece of news from the footage shown. First of all, here's the trailer again, in High Definition:
You see that stadium, that destroyed, mangled, contorted piece of metal and field and concrete? Let me show you closer, with a screencap from our gallery (which you can find here):
As the local Detroit and Michigan press have also noticed, and are buzzing about, that is none other than old NFL Detroit Lions football stadium, the Pontiac Silverdome! Opened in 1975, home to the Lions until 2001 and host for a number of events, from WrestleMania to FIFA cups, to SuperBowls to NBA matches; it closed down, permanently, in 2014, and is still waiting to find new tenants. Must be nice for the stadium and the area to feature in the latest Paramount production, if anything, even if ravaged by Cybertronian battles - check it out in its former glory and current state below!
Seibertron.com is all about galleries, so for this first trailer of Transformers: The Last Knight, we went big, real big. We now have a gallery of 2689 HD images from the trailer. Since these are HD, there is the option for "super" images which are 1,920 pixels wide. We have a sample below from all the main scenes. Now you can all comb this frame by frame to make the most of this trailer. Is there anything new these images show you that you couldn't make out before? Let us know.
You're probably thinking 'we've seen the new Transformers: The Last Knight teaser trailer already' - and you'd be correct. But we now have a Super HD version directly from Paramount up on our YouTube channel, and embedded below, so you can feast your optics on the latest Bayhem production!
Also included below are two featurettes, on IMAX's anniversary with Transformers and on Freya the rescue dog who stars in the movie, both of which were stories we covered here and here. Check them all out!
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