The Real Reasons Transformers 7 Was Canceled

The Transformers franchise has been nothing if not divisive. While some fans have stood by the films, the majority of critics — and plenty of average moviegoers — have criticized its emphasis on noisy CGI style over storytelling substance. Still, they've raked in a combined total of over $4 billion, proving there's an audience for this series. Or there was, anyway — Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth entry in the saga, earned the least amount of money, not to mention the worst reviews.

The sixth installment in the franchise, a spinoff focused on the Transformer known as Bumblebee, is set to arrive in late 2018, but it's unclear what will come next: Paramount has tabled plans to make a Transformers 7 for the foreseeable future. Why would the studio stop the machine that transformed a toy line into a multi-billion-dollar global cinematic affair? The answers might surprise you — read on to find out the real reasons Transformers 7 was canceled.

Following the second entry, 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, domestic ticket sales have dropped with each entry in the Transformers franchise. Between the fourth installment, 2014's Age of Extinction, and The Last Knight, the domestic box office shortfall is over $115 million. That's a lot of money, especially considering that Knight's entire production budget was a little under double that amount. These movies are extremely expensive, and if audiences are snubbing sequels to such a degree that more than $100 million is disappearing between chapters, maybe it's time for Paramount to reassess. 

U.S. audiences aren't the only ones tiring of the franchise — it's been on a global financial decline. Comparing Age of Extinction to The Last Knight, the latter raked in $500 million less than its predecessor on the global stage. Losing the battle for filmgoers' wallets at home and abroad, it makes sense that they've canceled Transformers 7 instead of throwing more good money at an increasingly risky bet.

Most movie franchises strive to expand the overall brand and boost its success across other mediums, but that's easier said than done, and the Transformers movies are proof. Considering the movies started with some toys, you'd think this would have been easy work, but we've only seen some decent action figures, a smattering of lackluster video games, and a line of comics.

While Transformers, having always been a toy-based IP, has maintained strength in the action figure market, the Transformers movies were a prime opportunity to broaden the brand's scope. However, the publishing license remains stuck at a B-tier comic book company, and as far as video games are concerned, every Transformers movie-related tie-in game has been met with middling reviews — or worse. In 2014, Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark turned a prequel-sequel to the successful game Transformers: Fall of Cybertron into a lackluster movie tie-in sequel hybrid, and effectively nuked what was otherwise a strong video game offshoot of the Transformers brand.

Maybe Paramount execs have realized that churning out these films every two to three years, regardless of quality, isn't beneficial to the long-term health of the franchise. Perhaps higher-ups at the studio have come to realize that, when a ship's been sailing in the wrong direction for as long as this one has, it takes more than a couple of years to turn things around. Transformers is a premium franchise, after all. It deserves the best blockbuster writing and directing, two jobs that take quite a bit of time to do effectively. Heck, canceling Transformers 7 might actually result in the movie getting some quality CGI — something that's been absent both in Age of Extinction and The Last Knight, possibly due to those movies' visual effects houses not having enough time to work.

This delay might also result in fan anticipation going up and audience fatigue going down. Time heals all wounds, and maybe wounded fans will be more receptive towards a new Transformers movie if they're given some time without one.

Franchise reboots have become fairly common — just ask Spider-Man — and a complete Transformers do-over would achieve a lot of things at once. It would wipe out the absolutely bonkers plot that's built up to this point, giving the writers a fresh start. It could also earn a fresh start with fans, provided Paramount shows proof that they've learned from past mistakes (fewer humans, more Transformers, please... and no Knights of the Round Table, while we're placing requests). And, most importantly, where there's a clean slate with fans, there's one with box office prospects. A reboot could single-handedly fix the financial woes the Transformers movies have suffered — and there's even a chance critics might learn to like the series, if a reboot with some heart, brains and good old-fashioned fun wiped away the sour taste of its predecessors. All it takes is one press of the reset button, and Transformers can potentially re-emerge as the franchise it was always supposed to be: one every fan, cool adult, average teenager, and blockbuster aficionado on the planet can get behind.