While 2018’s Bumblebee did a lot to please fans and critics, the soft-reboot of the Transformers franchise didn’t quite manage to replicate the box office success of Michael Bay’s five movies as it suffered the hangover of Transformers: The Last Knight to end up as the lowest-grossing instalment of the live-action movie series with $468 million worldwide.
However, it appears that an injection of a little Beast Wars (and the prospect of a faithful Unicron) could be just the tonic the blockbuster series needs, as Deadline is reporting that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is on course for an $80 million opening weekend in North America. That’s almost four times the domestic opening of Bumblebee ($21.6 million) and pushing twice The Last Knight’s $44.6 million three-day haul from its $68.4 million five-day weekend in 2017.
SEE ALSO: Autobots and Maximals square off in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts clip
Also boding well for Paramount Pictures and Hasbro is word that Rise of the Beasts pre-sale numbers in China are “great”, which should certainly be a positive signal for the movie’s chances of success as the Chinese box office outperformed North America with regards to both Bumblebee ($170 million to $127 million) and The Last Knight ($228 million vs $130 million).
Returning to the action and spectacle that have captured moviegoers around the world, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will take audiences on a ‘90s globetrotting adventure with the Autobots and introduce a whole new faction of Transformer – the Maximals – to the existing battle on earth between Autobots and Decepticons.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is directed by Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II) and features a cast that includes Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez, and Tobe Nwigwe, along with Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal, Michelle Yeoh as Airazor and Pete Davidson as Mirage.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts arrives in cinemas on June 8th 2023.
