The last several years have been rocky for the Transformers film franchise, as 2017’s The Last Knight didn’t perform spectacularly critically or commercially, and the 2018 spinoff Bumblebee, while the best reviewed of the Transformers movies, didn’t make much of a splash at the box office. Nevertheless, this franchise isn’t going anywhere, and now we have some major updates on the next Transformers movie coming up. It’s been announced that the next flick featuring the robots in disguise will be called Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
This title was announced at a Transformers virtual event that CinemaBlend’s own Mike Reyes was present for, with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura revealing that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, i.e. the movie that Creed II’s Steven Caple Jr. was hired to direct, will bring in the Beast Wars mythology. The Predacons, Maximals, and Terrorcons will all appear in Rise of the Beasts, which will primarily be set in 1994 Brooklyn, New York, although there be some action in Peru.
Regarding why the next Transformers movie is pulling from the Beast Wars canon, Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated that it felt like the prior movies had exhausted the Autobot vs. Decepticons conflict, and he and the other creative minds wanted to show different “tribes” of Transformers. However, don’t think that means there won’t be any characters from past Transformers movies, as it was also announced that Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will both appear in Rise of the Beasts. Peter Cullen will reprise the former role, who will be rocking his Generation 1 look. When not in humanoid robot form, Bumblebee will be driving around in his Camaro form. We’ll also reunite with Mirage and Arcee, who previously appeared in Dark of the Moon and Bumblebee, respectively.
As far as new robotic characters go, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will feature Scourge as its main villain, and Nightbird will be Scourge’s second-in-command. We’ll also meet Air-Razor and Rhinox, who are part of the Maximals clan that’s being led by Optimus Primal. I can only imagine what it will look like when Primal and Prime come face-to-face in Rise of the Beasts.
Now while people check out Transformers movies chiefly to watch giant robots beat each other up, there’s also the human element to these stories. For Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, In the Heights’ Anthony Ramos (who said during the virtual event that he grew up as a huge Beast Wars fan) will star as Noah, an ex-military man who looks after his little brother and is a whiz at fixing electronics. Judas and the Black Messiah’s Dominique Fishback will play Elena, who’s a researcher at a museum.
Thanks to all this new information, it’s clear a new era is kicking off in the Transformers film series, with the Beast Wars side of things finally being brought to the big screen. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which began principal photography on June 7, opens in theaters on June 24, 2022. While we wait for more Rise of the Beasts updates, stay caught up on this year’s movies with our 2021 release schedule.
