Transformers: The Last Knight Score by Steve Jablonsky Now on iTunes and Spotify

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

Dagon wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

dragons wrote:I went as fan of movies and as fan of transformers could be worse we get two movies like gijoe end of movies and we all we have to talk about comics, toys games tv shows and convention news before movies came along and transformers was not as popular back then then they are now

We are on the same wavelength here. Went in as a Transformers fan, came out as one. Enjoyed it for what it is, acknowledges that it is no where near perfect, but still enjoyed it as a fan anyway. Went and saw it again tonight. Will post some additional thoughts over in the TLK thread.

And also, are we really saying that since Seibertron got to go to the red carpet release and got to hang out with everyone there, that they are making him or he is choosing to suck up to them by writing it was good? Are we really that sour? Seibertron's post basically said the same thing that several other members said, with good and bad mixed in and his take on it. Is it really hard to believe those are actual thoughts?

For the record, in case and before this turns into a real thing, that's not what I was saying, or was even suggesting. My comment was that the criticism of the movie was not a thing of the movie, but of the format it was seen in. If I'm lactose intolerant and I go to a pizza place and can't eat the pizza, and then use that as my criticism of the establishment, I'm not actually critiquing the food, but rather its format. Saying the 3D bothers you doesn't actually make any statement on the movie, but on the 3D itself. That's all I was saying.

OK. Well we already had people start saying it, so I wanted to make that clear. It also seemed liked you were glossing over his whole paragraph about the bad things, that was followed by a paragraph about not liking 3D. Just so you see how I saw this and how I don't want this to be a thing nor do I believe you were making it a thing

Seibertron wrote:

77Prime84 wrote:When will Hasbro get this?

Hasbro gets it (or at least the Transformers brand team definitely does), or else we wouldn't have Transformers Prime, Transformers Animated, or other examples (though I might argue that some of the greatest Transformers stories of all time are stories where they had outside help such as the G1 cartoons and comics and Beast Wars, though not all of it, which bears some resemblance to how things were initially setup with Paramount). The movies and their stories are out of their hands if I understand everything correctly. I'm assuming that it's similar to Marvel with FOX. Hasbro handed over most of their rights for control of the Transformers films (if I'm wording this incorrectly, someone please advise immediately) over to Paramount and Michael Bay waaaay back in 2001/2002 when these deals were originally made.

But I assure you, Hasbro (or at least the brand team) gets it! Promise!!!

I updated this post to clarify a few of my earlier thoughts which I wrote in haste. To summarize the changes, Hasbro gets it or at least the Transformers brand team definitely gets it. Promise!

So after seeing a press screening by myself on Monday and attending the US Premiere here in Chicago with my wife (and found out later that night at the after party that we sat in the same row with the Transformers brand team), my wife and I took our daughters (8 years old and 2.5), my daughter's buddy next door (who's 9), my buddy Ben/Shadowbeast from our forums, and my wife's cousin and her husband and their 5 year old son to go to a 2D showing at Muvico in Rosemont (for those of you familiar with my area, it's the movie theater near where TFcon Chicago was located).

2D is definitely the way to go for me. I was able to be immersed in the movie at last, which was enjoyable. The audio, which had been ear blowing at the first 2 showings I attended, was at a much more tolerable level ... and surprise! Thanks to that I could finally understand what each and every Transformer said very clearly, including the Knights at the beginning (which I swore one of the podcast guys said during our recording the other night that I couldn't understand them because they were speaking Celtic, which I didn't catch at all tonight because I could actually hear them, and could understand all of the "deep" talking Transformers, including Canopy. It was wonderful, plus I caught various things that the humans said as well that I had missed because of the blaring audio at the first two showings.

For any of you who have issues with focusing on the 3D initially or just find it frustrating to watch, I did some reading just now about 3D viewing with astigmatism. I have a very slight astigmatism which causes me to have 25/20 vision or something along those lines (things further away are visible but need to be sharpened, much like you would an image on a computer in Photoshop). After reading these articles for the past 30 minutes, maybe it's time for me to make a trip to an optometrist regarding my poor 3D viewing experiences.

https://www.google.com/#q=eye+%22astigm ... +3d+movies

With that aside, I still enjoyed the movie. And I enjoyed it for what it was, the good and the bad. It's not a perfect movie, nor did I ever expect it to be (especially as a die-hard Transformers fan). But it is definitely an enjoyable movie. I liked The Last Knight in the same vein that I liked the first movie, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, and Age of Extinction. They all had their flaws, but there were things that I enjoyed watching in all of them as well.

One thing I caught during tonight's viewing (though I still didn't catch Scorn or Strafe if they're actually there in the Junkyard), was how you have to really pay attention to the fast moving dialogue during key scenes. Michael Bay's films have a habit of tossing in a very important line of dialogue about something that is happening, needs to happen, or will happen and if you miss that line, you won't know what's going on next. This also happens with visual cues where someone might grab something or do something quickly that you might miss while your eyes are focused elsewhere on the screen. Some of you will mock this line, but if you really want to follow the storyline, I think you really have to pay extreme attention to every line of dialogue and try to catch as much as you can. One could argue that you shouldn't have to work that hard to catch those things, but another might argue that it's his "art form" of sorts (or his style). I'm torn about how I feel about that because it's obvious to me that the film style is deliberate (but unfortunately is lost even on myself at times). It always intrigues me when I rewatch the previous Transformers films and I catch things that I've never caught before even though I've seen each of these movies dozens and dozens of times (with the exception of AOE which is probably only around a half dozen times or so). I can't remember what was said tonight that I caught, but I think it was something during the submarine "Transformer" jumping its moorings scene.

If any of you have doubts about whether or not my opinions have been compromised with this whole amazing experience with the Transformers films over the course of the past 10 years (especially with these incredible Last Knight experiences), I have gained an entire new appreciation for the art of Hollywood film making during the past year. The endless hours and tedious work and attention to detail that goes on behind the scenes to make a movie like Transformers The Last Knight is mind blowing.

One of the things that I constantly think about pertaining to this film, that didn't initially impress me at the time, was seeing a group of 4 or 5 people, "seamstresses" if you will, working on sewing parts of the "barbarian" warrior costumes. They told us that they were working on costumes for 300 to 400 warriors (if I recall correctly). At the time, it was all lost on me because I didn't care about seeing costumes being made from the era of 400 AD, especially when I was there to see them working on a Transformers movie. I had no frame of reference at the time. No story line to understand the relevance, nor had any movie trailers been released when I was seeing this. However, in retrospect, it might have been one of the coolest things I had seen, along with the massive sets for the underwater ship scene, Merlin's tomb and (if I'm remembering this correctly) Cybertron (Quintessa's throne room?). I was amazed that they would spend the amount of time and money to make that many costumes for that many actors instead of just CGI'ing them, and I was amazed that they built out those sets for that ship underwater including several of the knights and those tendrils hanging from the ceiling. I actually got to see a massive Cybertron set that was built out for the most part. Basically everything you see the actors interacting with during those scenes, walking on, etc, was all "real".

Regardless of whether or not I agree with Michael Bay's vision, I absolutely respect the man's talents and skills. I have seen him work on 3 of these films now, TLK being the most and closest I've seen him working after seeing him directing for part of a day last year and seeing him show us some stuff in his office in Santa Monica. I doubt many directors work harder than Michael Bay. Again, this is regardless of how you feel about his final products. This is just talking about that the man is extremely passionate about his work as a director and his vision. He works his ass off and he is an amazing professional at one he does.

To bring this back down to every day Transformers stuff in our world, for those of you who are familiar with Transformers UK writer Simon Furman, my thoughts about Furman's writings is similar to what I think about Michael Bay's directing. However, I feel like Furman has done some of his best work when he is confined and has to figure out how to work within the box. Some of less beloved work of Furman (Simon, if you happen to be reading this ... you are absolutely awesome, I love most of your comics, I've enjoyed drinking some beers with you and other fond memories, so no offense!) is when Simon has been left to his own devices with the Transformers stories. I think Michael Bay needs to have some higher ups who can confine and rein him in a bit. But at the same time, especially in his 50s, I doubt Michael Bay would want to be directed so we'll probably never see that happen.

So I'm kind of rambling here, which I have done on my own forums for quite some time. I love good debates about movies and I appreciate my buddy philswitch_engage calling me out so I can defend myself. Here's to that next beer my friend!

Initial reports for the Transformers: The Last Knight box office numbers are starting to roll in, looking at China, but also the likes of Australia, Korea, Russia, Indoesia and a number of European scenes (bar the UK). Check out more information here and below!

Rolling out in 41 overseas markets this weekend, Paramount’s Transformers: The Last Knight has clocked an estimated $85M through Friday, according to the studio. That includes $47.9M (RMB 330.76M) from China which, in that market, is 69% above Transformers: Age Of Extinction’s June 27, 2014 bow in local currency. Par puts the opening day for Last Knight at No. 3 for an import ever in the Middle Kingdom (including Thursday’s midnight shows). The debut sets the film on track for a $100M+ weekend launch there.

Elsewhere, the $37.1M made up in other markets appears to be a mix of some Thursday openings (Korea) and those markets that bowed today, although it was not clear on how they break down in all cases.

The 5th installment in the $3.8B worldwide grossing franchise, and Michael Bay’s last turn at the helm, hit Korea with $2M in previews on Wednesday, followed by $1.4M from 1,711 screens on Thursday and $1.9M today. That lifts the cume there to $5.3M through Friday. Korea on the last Transformers was ultimately the No.3 market.

In 2014, Transformers 4’s first China day came in around $30M. That film was made under a co-operation agreement and shot locally. Transformers 5 has a local marketing partner in Wanda (owner of the most screens in the Middle Kingdom) with Weying Technology and Huahua also investing. Bay and the team traveled last week to a premiere in Guangzhou. Chinese singer Jason Zhang, who performed a promotional song for the film, was also in attendance.

All markets reporting (which does not include the UK) came in at No. 1. Rounding out the Top 10 bows after China and Korea through Friday are Russia at $2.8M on 2,460 screens, followed by Indonesia with $1.1M from 255 dates for the biggest Paramount launch day ever (the cume is $2.3M so far); Malaysia ($845K at 145 dates); Australia (2-day total $1.5M); Germany ($978K including previews on 828 screens); the Philippines with $919K on 503; Thailand at $715K including previews; and Hong Kong at $504K after Day 1 at No. 1.

The Last Knight is bypassing such markets as France and Spain this week, as well as waiting for Latin America to rumble with Bumblebee later on the calendar.

Nexus Knight wrote:This was the case for AoE, right? I don't have the proof to back it up, but I mildly remember a family member telling me that AoE did better internationally than in the US.

Also, I have to wait for my hometown theater to get the movie in. As a deep fan of the franchise (the movies being my gateway into the awesomeness that is Transformers) is TLK worth the five dollar ticket? I'll probably go regardless, but I am curious to know.

Yep, it performed reaaaally well in China. In which it makes AOE broke box office record in China at that time. (until Fast&Furious 7 take that spot)

I watched TLK with my brothers 2 days ago and while I would say that it have some flaws (too many unnecessary humans scenes, forced romance) it worth all the money for the amazing visuals and actions. also, Anthony Hopkins and Cogman was really entertaining.

Ryuki wrote:

Nexus Knight wrote:This was the case for AoE, right? I don't have the proof to back it up, but I mildly remember a family member telling me that AoE did better internationally than in the US.

Also, I have to wait for my hometown theater to get the movie in. As a deep fan of the franchise (the movies being my gateway into the awesomeness that is Transformers) is TLK worth the five dollar ticket? I'll probably go regardless, but I am curious to know.

Yep, it performed reaaaally well in China. In which it makes AOE broke box office record in China at that time. (until Fast&Furious 7 take that spot)

I watched TLK with my brothers 2 days ago and while I would say that it have some flaws (too many unnecessary humans scenes, forced romance) it worth all the money for the amazing visuals and actions. also, Anthony Hopkins and Cogman was really entertaining.

Thank you! I'll be going with my brother as soon as we get in theaters... Which will be the next two or three weeks...

Seibertron wrote:

Nexus Knight wrote:Also, I have to wait for my hometown theater to get the movie in. As a deep fan of the franchise (the movies being my gateway into the awesomeness that is Transformers) is TLK worth the five dollar ticket? I'll probably go regardless, but I am curious to know.

$5 a ticket? We only get that at some older theaters around the northwest suburbs of Chicago on Tuesdays, and not at the nice theaters with the stadium style seating. We paid $12 each for adult tickets last night (5 adults total in our group) and $9 each for 3 kids ages 5 and up and my 2 year old daughter got in free.

Definitely worth $5 a ticket or more! $5 is a steal to see a brand new blockbuster movie.

And kids under six, I believe, get in free. There is (or was) a theater in Tulsa (a forty five minute drive from me) that had tickets cheaper. Oklahoma is a pretty great place to live. Only sucky part is, it's hard to find current toys at the local Wal-Mart. We were getting Titans Return wave one w/ Combiner Wars wave 3.

The whole point of this movie is just to try and explain why the same story being has been told repeatedly in the other movies.

Quantum Surge wrote:I'll be honest and say most reviews seem to go overboard with the bashing with this film.

It's always been like that. Most of the hate these movies get is spawned from clickbait BS.