Transformers One animated movie is a ‘biblical’ Optimus Prime story

While the box-office haul of this summer’s Transformers Rise of the Beasts doesn’t compare to the highest highs of the Michael Bay era, it’s still a big enough hit that fans of the robots in disguise should expect another sequel in the future (and one with a toy line crossover twist). The truth is, Transformers 8 isn’t even the only TF movie Paramount Pictures has in the works: Announced in April, the studio will release the animated Transformers OneThe movie will be in cinemas by 2024. Longtime Transformers movie series producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura tells Polygon says the movie is big — maybe the biggest Transformers story his team has brought to screen yet.

“You could not make this movie live-action,” he says, while on the press tour for Transformers Rise of the Beasts’ digital release. “If we did it in live-action it would cost twice what we normally would spend on a big Transformers movie. In animation, not only can we afford it, it’s less than a Transformers movie. Animation is a great way to do many things. I mean, imagine being on Cybertron? How does Cybertron look? We get the opportunity to define that.”

Transformers OneThe movie reverses the time of the battle between Autobots vs. Decepticons, and changes the cast. Chris Hemsworth replaces series regular Peter Cullen as the young Optimus prime, and recent actors have been added to the mix. AtlantaBryan Tyree Henry, an Oscar-nominated actor and voice of Megatron, replaces Frank Welker. Scarlett Johansson plays Elita One. Keegan Michael Key is Bumblebee. Jon Hamm is Sentinel Prime. Laurence Fishburne will play Alpha Trion. And, yes, it’s all set on Cybertron.

Transformers One marks the first fully animated feature film from the artists at Industrial Light & Magic since 2011’s Rango (though the company also worked on George Lucas’ fairytale curio Strange Magic, but uh let’s uh focus on Rango). Di Bonaventura is a righteous herald of the future. Rango as “quite spectacular” in this writer’s opinion, says that films like Spider-Man: into the Spider-verse and Paramount’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant MayhemIt may have opened up the possibility for an animated Transformers feature, but its only common theme is the use of the onscreen characters. Transformers OneILM Director Josh CooleyToy Story 4), and the entire team is “doing our own version of originality.” But in service of what?

“I’ve always wanted to do the origin story of essentially the friendship of Megatron and Optimus, who were then Orion Pax and D-16,” di Bonaventura says with authentic giddiness. “There’s something very biblical about it, very Cain and Abel, in many respects. But it’s more sophisticated in a way because it’s about power and the use of power and how an individual is personally.”

Transformers OneThe movie is expected to arrive in cinemas on Saturday, July 19, 2024.