Transformers spin-off Beast Wars is getting a live-action reboot on the big screen sometime in the near future, and with the franchise in desperate need of a fresh take, will this be something that resurrects the Hasbro toy inspired action-adventure, or will it be another flop like Transformers: The Last Knight was?
The Michael Bay-directed movies were received with mixed results by fans, all 5 of his Transformers films grossed above $700m worldwide, with two of them hitting over $1bn. But as the fatigue set in, and Paramount opted for different directors and cast, the audience levels dropped, and so maybe something like Beast Wars, a film set in the Transformers universe where the bots can transform into beasts such as Cheetor or Waspinator would be enough of a change that fans may fall back in love with the franchise.
10 Great Idea: Time Travel Ideas
One of the things Transformers has fallen critical of in recent times is its lack of consistency in storytelling between films. Beast Wars could help to avoid the plot holes that recent films have had, by introducing time travel into this new era of Transformers.
Time travel is seen in the original Beast Wars chronicles series, where the Maximals and Predacons live hundreds of years in the future of the ‘G1’ Transformers but decide to travel back in time to pre-historic earth in order to gain access to a sacred item. This is where their beast-like nature originates from, and in the classic stories, the Beasts lived on earth disguised as animals for many years.
9 Bad Idea: Disney's Stranglehold
This type of sci-fi action film was the first of its kind when it came out, but the market for a film like this is so congested now, you really have to have something that people are heavily invested in, in order to make money and be successful.
Right now, the only films of this nature that are a true success are that of Star Wars and Marvel releases, and even Star Wars has suffered from reboot syndrome of late. With spin-offs galore coming on streaming platforms, and the Avatar films coming out soon, there may not be room for another reboot of this kind.
8 Good Idea: Has A Lot Of Potential
Following on from the time-traveling robotic beasts, there is actually quite a lot of cool things you could do with Beast Wars if they are to stick with the same narrative that past stories have told about them.
It would be great to see how the beasts could have been used in the Second World War, for example, the Cheetah-like Maximal, Cheetor, could be used in a Saving Private Ryan style D-Day beach landing, or potentially a whole story exploring them cohabiting with the dinosaurs on earth. This channel of fresh characters and ideas to the universe could be just what Transformers needs.
7 Bad Idea: Can't See John Cena
Past Transformers films have had big-name cast members carrying them like Shia LaBeouf, Mark Wahlberg and obviously the man himself, John Cena in the recent Bumblebee movie. There isn’t any clear indication as of yet whether or not Beast Wars will be set off-earth or not, and if it isn’t, then these big-name actors that have helped bump audience figures up are not going to feature as heavily.
Granted, Transformers can always deploy a star-studded cast of voice-overs, but it’s doubtful that audiences are going to get a LaBeouf/Megan Fox style romance to invest in, and this early into the development of the film, whatever they do with Beast Wars is anyone’s guess.
6 Great Idea: Amazing Action
Transformers films are great fun. Whether or not you agree with the plot holes, cast or repetitive writing of recent releases, there is no doubt that the battle scenes and special effects of the films so far have been worthy of the big screen. The franchise took a dip in the action levels in Travis Knight’s Bumblebee reboot, and the box office figures sure suffered because of this.
With Beast Wars having time travel connotations to it, as well as being named Beast Wars, it wouldn’t be wrong to say this film is going to go back to Transformers’ bonkers battle roots that ultimately saw most of its on-screen success.
5 Bad Idea: Confusing Time Travel
If time travel was something explored in Beast Wars, with this film and the upcoming one in the Bumblebee universe, it would mean there were 3 Transformers universes co-existing. Not to mention the fact that there are barely any films that can do time travel well.
These films are primarily aimed at younger people and sci-fi lovers… So the lack of continuity going forward, some would say, is a step back rather than a step forward. It also begs the question, why would you reboot Beast Wars whilst you are currently pushing another Transformers universe alongside?
4 Great Idea: Merchandise!
Transformers is based on the popular toy range that originated in the 80s, the toys were Hasbro’s prime selling point as they presented themselves with a unique take on children’s toys because the consumer could ‘transform’ their toy car into an Autobot or Decepticon for example.
Today, Transformers toys are still one of Hasbro’s most sold range, if you go into any major toy store the Transformers section stands tall and Beast Wars opens a whole new type of merchandise that, if popular, is likely to sell well on the high street.
3 Bad Idea: Bloated Budget
Paramount already lost money on recent releases like Terminator: Dark Fate, action-packed blockbusters like Transformers cost so much to make with their extreme special effects and big-name actors, all of which add to production costs that means the film has to make a certain amount of money to break-even.
It’s always going to be a big risk when considering something like Beast Wars that non-Transformers fans don’t know much about.
Movie studios like Paramount are under enormous amounts of pressure at the moment with streaming services and other giant companies consistently making money off their content, so it's something Paramount should seriously consider when continuing this expensive franchise.
2 Great Idea: Another Amazing Soundtrack
Linkin Park featured in the soundtrack of some of the early Transformers live-action movies, with their hit What I’ve Done being a global success and getting the film recognized in the MTV music awards with its illustrious music video. More recently, the Bumblebee reboot had tracks in the film from The Smiths, Bon Jovi, and Duran Duran.
It’s clear the live-action Transformers franchise coins itself on having popular soundtracks, and that doesn’t need to change when they release Beast Wars, in the past, they have been inconsistent with the film’s narrative and so Beast Wars could well add to the popularity of past film’s tunes!
1 Bad Idea: Poor Writers
James Vanderbilt is writing this next film, and his writing prior to this hasn’t been that impressive. Vanderbilt was responsible for the writing on both The Amazing Spider-man movies, which flopped at the box-office and didn’t go down well at all with die-hard fans, so hiring him to write your reboot is a gamble if you are basing it on track record alone.
Transformers fans are gunning for blood at the moment, so the fate of upcoming movies is almost decided before its hit screens when news like this is revealed.
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