10 Recent Movies That Reignited A Dying Franchise

Typically, the Transformers franchise has brought in huge box office numbers, with Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction crossing the billion-dollar line, but the films themselves have never been particularly well-received critically. In fact, since Michael Bay's first foray into the franchise in 2007, every Transformers release has been deemed Rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, with the exception of the 2018 spin-off, Bumblebee.

Transformers has ultimately become synonymous with style over substance, mindless stories with no depth. However, the franchise took a new direction in 2024 with Transformers One.

Origin stories are always risky, but delving into the world of animation to tell how both Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) came to be was a strong basis for the picture. It balanced a better-than-usual story with actual depth, and though there were fun action sequences, they weren't relied on entirely as the live-action films have always done.

Ironically, Transformers One is the lowest-grossing in the franchise by far (though also produced on the lowest budget), but it is easily the best one. More of this is needed, and with the movie ending on a relatively open note, this new branch of the franchise could go anywhere.