Summary
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, earning only $436.6 million worldwide at the box office.
- The disappointing box office performance raises questions about the future of the Transformers franchise and its plans for a G.I. Joe crossover.
- The film’s director, Steven Caple Jr., has expressed interest in directing a sequel, but one hasn’t been confirmed yet. Ensuring future franchise success might mean working with lower budgets, like Bumblebee did in 2018.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts‘s final box office numbers have been revealed, and the new film is the franchise’s lowest-grossing entry yet. Directed by Steven Caple Jr., the latest installment is the seventh live-action adaptation of the popular Hasbro toy line. The film, which stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, earned mixed reviews from critics upon its release in June.
Now, a new report from SlashFilm reveals that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts‘ box office totals have the film earning only $436.6 million worldwide during its theatrical run, making it the worst-performing entry in the franchise. 2018’s Bumblebee, which boasts the franchise’s lowest production budget of $102 million, takes the second-to-last spot with $465 million. The highest-grossing Transformers movie remains 2011’s Transformers: The Dark of the Moon, which earned a whopping $1.123 billion.
Will Rise Of The Beasts’ Box Office Affect Transformers’ Future?
With its production budget of $195 million (matching that of Transformers: Dark of the Moon), a $436.6 million box office gross is a disappointing result. SlashFilm states that the movie very likely didn’t even breakeven with this amount, but it could end up turning a profit due to success on VOD platforms. Without breaking even during its theatrical run (or perhaps barely breaking even), however, it is certainly fair to question if plans for the Transformers franchise’s future will be affected.
With a box office performance like this, it’s clear that interest in the franchise as a whole is waning. 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight was considered something of a disappointment financially compared to its predecessors, and it managed to rake in $605.4 million. Although general interest in the franchise isn’t what it once was, Paramount was evidently hoping to set up a larger connected universe, with the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ending introducing a crossover with the world of G.I. Joe.
While the combined power of the two franchises might be enough to generate buzz, the G.I. Joe franchise itself also struggled at the box office recently. 2021’s Snake Eyes, for example, was a box office bomb, grossing only $40.1 million on a budget of around $88 million. Caple Jr. has expressed interest in returning to direct a sequel to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but one has not yet been confirmed. If the franchise is to continue, it seems like working with lower budgets in the Bumblebee range might be the best path forward.
Source: SlashFilm