Transformers: Age Of Extinction - 10 Ways Michael Bay Stole Your Money

4. Feeding Curiosity Culture

How does a movie that nobody claims to like generate more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office? Curiosity culture. Never mind the Transformers name, Michael Bay himself has become a brand, and the very mention of his name (even as producer) guarantees a particular type of entertainment. Whether he€™s photographing robot mayhem or retelling the events of December 7, 1941 from the bomb€™s point of view, nobody goes to a Michael Bay expecting well-rounded characters, smart dialogue and fleshed out plots. They go because he blows stuff up, and his explosions are very good indeed. Which is what people mean when they say, €œIt wasn€™t supposed to be Hamlet!€ The problem with that attitude is that when people with low expectations go to see one of his movies, and do so in sufficient numbers, they turn a piece of reviled product into a colossal hit. There€™s also the Phantom Menace factor - hurt fans returning to see the latest installment over and over again, hoping that one day they€™ll come to love it. In other words, the huge grosses that Bay refers to when defending himself against his critics aren€™t proof that anyone actually likes what they€™re getting, they just show how the curious keep turning up.