After a disappointing start at the box office, Transformers One director Josh Cooley has come out urging fans to see the well-received animated movie in theaters while they still can.
Ahead of Transformers One’s opening weekend, box office tracking had the animated movie grossing upwards of $40 million domestically in its first three days. However, after a promising $3.36 million from Wednesday fan shows and Thursday previews, audiences largely shied away from seeing Transformers One, leading to the movie’s opening weekend gross falling short of expectations.
By the time Monday rolled around, Transformers One had fallen into second place for the weekend with $25 million, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice taking the top spot for the third week in a row with $26 million. On the upside, Transformers One has become the second-highest-rated installment in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes behind 2018’s Bumblebee, with 88% of critics giving the movie a positive review.
Cooley isn’t also letting the movie’s commercial struggles bring him down. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the director thanked fans “who experienced Transformers One this weekend. Extremely proud of the film and the incredible cast and crew who brought it to life.” He also urged anyone who hadn’t seen the movie yet to go out and see it while it was still playing in theaters, explaining, “It was made for the big screen so experience it while you still can, and please share with me what you think.”
Transformers One is the franchise’s first CG-animated movie
Transformers One is notable for being the long-running franchise’s first CG-animated movie, as well as the first animated movie since 1986’s Transformers: The Movie. Transformers One, per the official synopsis, is about “the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.”
The voice cast for the movie includes Chris Hemsworth as Orion/Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as D-16/Megatron, Keegan-Michael Key as B-127/Bumblebee, Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Steve Buscemi as Starscream, among others.
Transformers One is currently playing in theaters.
(Box Office Source: Deadline)
