Critical acclaim has never been on his side, but if there's one thing that has a voice and a vote in Hollywood, it's money, and when it comes to making it, Michael Bay could teach classes. The Transformers saga has grossed $3.7 billion with just four films, so nobody should be surprised by the existence of The Last Knight. What's curious is that this fifth installment will be the last one with him in the director's chair... or at least that's what he said. Want to know more? Here comes the trailer.
The Numbers Don't Lie
No summer is complete without a Michael Bay movie in theaters. His love of explosions and visual details has forged a special connection with his audience, and despite the terrible numbers critics throw his way, his works end up earning nine or ten figures at the box office. Take the latest Transformers, Age of Extinction, for example. $1.104 billion, top 20 among the highest-grossing films of all time. What does Rotten Tomatoes say? Eighteen percent. What's his average? Forty percent. Does he care? Definitely not. And that's how he gets the green light for sequel after sequel. The Last Knight is supposed to be the last one with Bay at the helm, but if we consider that Transformers 6 is already confirmed, along with a Bumblebee spin-off, well... who knows?
The Trailer
The trailer isn't so easy to process. The legend of King Arthur, World War II, Anthony Hopkins as narrator, Optimus floating in space (following up on the ending of Age of Extinction) and then attacking Bumblebee... it'll take some patience to absorb it all. According to available information, The Last Knight will dive headfirst into Transformers mythology, expanding what's already been said about Autobots and Decepticons in previous films. Several sites mention "two different timelines" (present and past, maybe?), but I don't think it's a good idea to rush or get too deep into speculation.
Besides the unexpected? presence of Anthony Hopkins, we'll also see the return of Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Josh Duhamel (William Lennox), Tyrese Gibson (Robert Epps), Stanley Tucci (Joshua Joyce), and none other than John Turturro, reprising his role as Seymour Simmons. Among the Transformers, we detect the return of both Grimlock and Megatron (now in the form of Galvatron), and more information about the Creators is expected. Its release will be, obviously, in the middle of the northern hemisphere's summer: June 23.
