Following Paramount's announcement of a new Transformers film, it appears the studio has many more stories to tell in the long-running action franchise, as the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will be the start of a new trilogy.
The 7th film in the Transformers film franchise, which is based on the famous Hasbro toy line, will center on Optimus Prime in 1994 Brooklyn (7 years after the events of Bumblebee) and sees him teaming up with a pair of archaeologists who become involved with three separate forms of ancient Transformers: the Maximals, the Predacons, and the Terrorcons. Paramount initially wanted to create two separate Transformers films, with one being a sequel to 2018's Bumblebee written by The Amazing Spider-Man's James Vanderbilt. The other was to be based on the animated Beast Wars storyline and would be written by Obi-Wan Kenobi's Joby Harold.
The studio ultimately decided to combine the two ideas to form what is now known as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. After Transformers 7 wrapped up filming last fall, Paramount has now announced plans to develop a new Transformers trilogy, with Rise of the Beasts kicking everything off. Furthermore, a new Transformers animated series for Nickelodeon debuts this fall and a CG animated film will arrive in 2024.
Bay's explosive Transformers franchise contained some eye-popping action sequences, and one witty breakout performance from Shia LaBeouf. However, behind all the mayhem lied bloated stories filled with dull human characters. With the Transformers films in desperate need of a fresh voice, rising filmmaker Steven Caple Jr., who is coming off of his Creed 2 success, may just be the one to change things for the better.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will focus on elements from the Beast Wars storyline instead of the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons, which Caple Jr. plans to still incorporate into the film. The film will depict their time-traveling descendants (Maximals, Predacons, Terrorcons) battling it out in prehistoric times, when instead of transforming into different model vehicles, they take the form of various animals.
Whether Caple Jr. can pull it off or not, it's refreshing to finally see some new stories and perspectives being put into these films. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' human cast includes Hamilton and In the Heights star Anthony Ramos and Judas and the Black Messiah's Dominique Fishback as the two leads. As for the voice cast, Peter Cullen will return as Optimus Prime, while Ron Perlman is joining as Optimus Primal.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will arrive in theaters on June 9th, 2023.
Source: Twitter/Paramount Plus