The Transformers film series may not be the cinematic heavyweight it once was, but the Beast Wars movie could be the key to reinvigorating the franchise. Here's why the Transformers movies have declined in audience appreciation, and how Transformers: Rise of the Beasts can save them. Based on the wildly popular Hasbro toy line, Transformers movies kicked off with Michael Bay's trilogy, but by the time 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight arrived, interest had significantly waned. Bumblebee served as something of a soft reboot and was a modest box office success, and Bumblebee 2 is one of two Transformers films on the way. First to come though is Transformers 7, a much more radical reinvention based on the Beast Wars cartoon.
What went wrong with the Transformers movies can hopefully be changed by the new Beast Wars film, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Based on the late 90s subline of the same name, Beast Wars is a massive departure from what's come before in the Transformers film franchise. It's the sort of radical status quo change that could potentially resuscitate a franchise that's been on life support for a while now. But what is Beast Wars, and how will it work in the context of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts? To understand how the new Beast Wars movie could be the future of Transformers, it's helpful to take a look at its history, and how Beast Wars could potentially save the Transformers franchise from obscurity just like it did with the animated show in 1996.
How Beast Wars Continued The Original Transformers Series
In the early 90s, the Transformers franchise seemed like it was on its way to oblivion. After the original 80s run died a natural death, Transformers: Generation 2 proved to be a major disappointment, featuring barely repainted old toys and cartoon reruns. A last-ditch effort to save the line was launched in 1996 under the moniker Beast Wars. Instead of alien robots that disguised themselves as vehicles on modern-day Earth, Beast Wars would feature robots that hid as animals on prehistoric Earth. It wasn't exactly a new idea — there had been plenty of animal Transformers before Beast Wars — but the overall shift in the narrative focus and tone proved potent. Therefore, it's highly likely that the new Transformers movie, which focuses on the Beast Wars storyline, can reverse the Transformer movie franchise's decline in a similar way.
Fundamentally, Beast Wars changed the way Transformers told stories. Instead of the sprawling casts of the Generation 1 fiction, Beast Wars concentrated on only a handful of robots, making for much more character-driven narrative arcs, which Rise Of The Beasts looks set to do too. The Beast Wars animated series was set approximately 300 years after the events of the G1 cartoon and comics, Beast Wars chronicles the adventures of the Maximals and Predacons, descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons, respectively. A new Megatron follows the instructions of a mysterious golden disc back in time to prehistoric Earth, though he's followed by a Maximal science ship. Both ships crash-land on prehistoric Earth, where they find massive deposits of Energon and a strange second moon. The Cybertronians soon find they can't properly absorb the planet's Energon in robot mode, and adapt beast modes to survive.
Over the course of three critically hailed seasons, it's eventually revealed that Megatron has come to Earth to change the past. In the original Generation 1 cartoon, the Autobots' ship crash-landed on Earth millions of years ago. In the era in which Beast Wars takes place, the ship is still dormant, buried in a volcano in the American northwest. The new Megatron plots to kill the Autobots while they slumber, and Optimus Primal (no relation to Optimus Prime) and his group of Maximals have to stop him before he rewrites the future so that the Decepticons win the war. Beast Wars was an evolution in Transformers storytelling, featuring nuanced narrative arcs and concepts previously thought impossible for the franchise. From what's already been seen of the Rise of the Beasts live-action movie, Beast Wars looks set to repeat this trick with the Transformers film series too.
Beast Wars Can Save The Transformers Movies
There's a reason Transformers has mostly flourished while other 80s toy franchises like G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K. have floundered. Beyond the cool toy play pattern, the lore of Transformers is constantly reinventing itself to tell new, interesting stories with genuinely iconic characters. Optimus Prime is as much a household hero as Captain America or Superman at this point. That kind of clout means the franchise can take some creative risks — and make no mistake, Beast Wars was a risk in its original 1990s iteration. There's still a risk Hollywood will entirely miss what made Beast Wars special with Rise of the Beasts. It's a somewhat convoluted, time travel-heavy story that was perfectly suited for mildly serialized television, but there's no guarantee that's going to work for the big screen.
Still, the time is right for another Transformers reinvention, and general audiences in the 2020s are much more familiar with some of Beast Wars heavier sci-fi concepts. Bumblebee felt more like a course correction than a remake, something the movie's somewhat modest box office would seem to confirm. It followed a similar template to the Bay movies, it just executed it in a much more impressive fashion. Beast Wars would be a massive change that would re-contextualize what the franchise is capable of.
If Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is successful it could open up the Transformers franchise to all kinds of storytelling possibilities — Beast Wars was Transformers' first big reinvention, but it certainly wasn't the last. The key difference, aside from the focus on animal Transformers, is that Rise of the Beasts is the first Transformers movie that won't be overly tied to the War for Cybertron. A small difference, but it's one that will allow the Transformers movies to finally spread their wings and explore themes beyond Optimus Prime and Megatron's rivalry.
The Rise Of The Beasts Trailer Already Looks Promising
Just as Beast Wars reinvigorated the Transformers cartoon series, based on the latest footage, it looks like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts could do the same for the dying franchise. The Transformers timeline is somewhat difficult to follow. However, Rise of the Beasts is a prequel to Michael Bay's original movies, set after the events of Bumblebee. Since the new Transformers movie is set in 1994, it acts as both a prequel and a sequel within the wider Transformers universe. Already it looks like the Beast Wars movie is set to change the franchise for the better, just as the animated Beast Wars series did in the 90s for the show. The previous Transformers movies lost their way when they departed from grounded human stories in favor of CGI-heavy action sequences. Rise of the Beasts seems to be taking a different route than its predecessors, injecting new life into the franchise.
Not only that, but the Beast Wars movie gets rid of the tired Decepticons and Autobots feud to focus on new stories about the Maximals and Terrorcons. While there are some Autobots in the film, such as Optimus Prime, the Maximals are the stars of Rise of the Beasts. By introducing new mythos and lore into the Transformers franchise an expanded universe can be explored, and new stories can thrive. The footage from the trailer promises the high-octane action sequences that audiences are used to, but also introduces a slew of new Transformers and a new hero in the form of Anthony Ramos' Noah. The new Transformers movie rightfully distances itself from the previous films by focusing on the Beast Wars narrative, something that could potentially save the Transformers brand once again.