Making movies with mass appeal is obviously the goal for any major movie studio. Transformers, despite having a fairly successful live-action run under Michael Bay’s supervision, have always struggled to find this mass appeal. Beyond simple numbers, even these Transformers films saw lower-than-desired scores across review sites. Part of what makes it so difficult to make a truly good Transformers film likely comes from the fact that the original point of Transformers on screen was to sell the toys. Any future film adaptation is going to be facing an uphill battle overcoming these more kid-based origins to find mass appeal.
Transformers began as a line of toys robots that could turn into everyday items in the early 1980s. It wasn’t long after this that the Transformers TV Series began in an attempt to better sell the toys. The story of the Autobots vs. the Decepticons was an effective marketing strategy, and the 80s were closed out with an animated film called Transformers: The Movie. This film was massively popular among the young fans of the franchise and cemented just how popular Transformers could be.
Marketing a Transformers Film
The first hurdle that many studios come across is how to market a film with the name Transformers. While this name carries a lot of weight with kids, it can sometimes have a more uncertain effect with adults. Many adults who grew up with Transformers will likely be excited by the name, and in this sits a problem. From this initial excitement, what type of film should studios make? Should these studios try to make a film that appeals to the kids or should they try to make something that will appeal to the adults who are also excited? Is there a possible middle ground that doesn’t feel like a strange mishmash?
Michael Bay’s live-action films pursued this middle-ground, with the film overall coming across as a slightly more adult film based on the themes present throughout. What appealed to kids were the same elements that helped this show find popularity before: giant robots fought other giant robots. While this worked for the first film, something about this framework deteriorated as the films went on. It’s possible this lost its luster as time went on, although many reviews have pointed to the poor writing on the more adult side of the films.
The Mature Side Of Things
Kids will always want to see the giant robots fighting, but for mass appeal to work, many adults will have to know why they should care that the robots are fighting. In this lies the main dilemma for these films, wherein the adults struggle to find a reason to care. The studios attempt to solve this by introducing the human side of things, with actors such as Shia LaBeouf and Mark Wahlberg leading the Michael Bay films. While this can somewhat work for the adults, the kids then start to feel alienated by the fact that their robot fights are being interrupted.
This separation lends itself to these movies struggling quite a bit when it comes to their story. Many of the later Bay films very much ran into this issue, with the stories becoming bloated as they attempted to pack in a full human story with a full robot story. Audiences were essentially being shown two movies, with each side disliking the other. This led to the only option left being to eventually reboot the franchise.
Although initially planned as simply a spinoff and prequel, Bumblebee was later declared a reboot following the poor reception of the prior Bay films. This film found far more popularity from one essential element: it unified the ideas of a human story and the giant robots. The main human character and Bumblebee bonded over their shared experiences and grew through their relationship rather than simply coexisting in the same world. This made all the difference, and fans were ecstatic to see the robots and the humans on screen.
Transformers in film have been overall hit-or-miss, often depending on the strength of the story. The true success of a given Transformers film depends largely on what market the studio is trying to appeal to and the quality of the writing. If they are making a cartoon for just children, then the writing doesn’t necessarily need to be as strong seeing as children will be satisfied with the robots punching each other. Good vs. evil is a simple enough motivator in these instances. For more mass appeal, these films also need to focus on a solidly written story that ties into emotional themes of why adults should care about the two robots fighting beyond whether they are good or bad. The future of the Transformers movies is uncertain as to the quality, however, Bumblebee has had a sequel greenlit set to come out in 2023. Time will tell if this Beast Wars-centered story will be a gem in disguise.