I must say, I think that the future of the Transformers movies is looking brighter than ever. Not only was the most recent live-action installment — a ’90s set prequel called Transformers: Rise of the Beasts — met with decent reviews and satisfying returns at the box office, there is another addition to the franchise in the works as we speak called Transformers One.
However, this latest theatrically released entry in the long-running saga of robots from another planet smashing into each other — and causing some pretty epic explosions in the process — is going to change things up a bit by releasing the franchise’s first animated big screen adventure in decades. There is more to learn regarding how Transformers One is promising to stand out among the rest and all the other basic facts about the upcoming 2024 movie in our breakdown below, starting with when the film is expected to roll out.
What Is The Transformers One Release Date?
Transformers One is currently set to hit theaters on Friday, September 20, 2024. Paramount Pictures had previously scheduled this latest film about alien robots that can disguise themselves as common, earthly machines to come out in July. However, despite the release date push back, the movie is only coming out a little more than a year after fans saw the Autobots team up with the Maximals in 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
We have not seen a gap between installments in this franchise that narrow since 2018’s Bumblebee followed 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. On the other hand, it has been nearly 40 years since we last saw an animated, feature-length entry hit the big screen.
The Transformers One Trailer Is Funny, Visually Amusing, And Action-Packed
Typically, in the previous live-action Transformers movies, most of the robot characters are stoic, no-nonsense warriors, while the responsibility of “comic relief” is left to the humans. However, there are no humans in the upcoming animated film set on Cybertron, which means that the machines are about to get funny. See if you let out a chuckle while watching the Transformers One trailer (which made its debut from outer space) below:
In addition to the many surprising moments of family-friendly humor and the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” playing over the soundtrack, the teaser certainly looks and feels like a Transformers movie, but with plenty to help stand on its own. It offers an explanation to how the average worker robots were granted the ability to alter their appearance and shows us a glimpse at the beautifully animated Cybertron, which seems to take inspiration from the world of Blade Runner in some respects.
Transformers One Is Animated And Separate From The Live-Action Movies
For more than a decade, the Transformers franchise has stuck to making its theatrically released movies in live-action, while keeping its animated entertainment exclusively to the small screen. However, the very first feature-length adaptation of the popular Hasbro toy line (and still the best in some fans’ eyes) was animated and famously featured Citizen Kane’s star and director, Orson Welles, in his final performance as the voice of Unicron. Luckily, 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie will no longer be the saga’s only big screen, animated adventure after Transformers One is released.
Whether or not this new film is intended to exist in the same continuity as the original Transformers TV series and movie has not been confirmed. Yet, we do know from a Deadline article published in April 2020 that this will have no connection to the live-action movies’ timeline. However, the upcoming flick likely could have existed in either continuity given its plans to go all the way back to the beginning.
The Prequel Chronicles Optimus Prime And Megatron's Transition From Friends To Enemies
Along with the confirmation that Transformers One will have no direct ties to the live-action franchise also came the reveal that it will serve as a prequel to the story of the Autobots and Decepticons’ conflict. In April 2023, Collider published an exclusive report featuring insight from producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura into how it will serve as an “origin story of all Transformers,” which explains the numeric title. However, the main plot will focus on the relationship between the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime (when he was named Orion Pax), and Decepticon leader Megatron (when he known as D-16), at a time when they were still friends, and trace the evolution of their violent rivalry.
The movie will also take place entirely on the Transformers’ home planet, Cybertron, and depict its ultimate collapse, which Di Bonaventura compared to the destruction of Krypton before Kal-El (Superman) was sent to Earth. As evident from the trailer and footage shown during Paramount’s panel at CinemaCon 2024, Transformers One is also taking the franchise in a different direction tonally. The animated film will be more of a family comedy, showing a more affable side of the alien robots as they are just beginning to learn how to “more than meets the eye.”
Chris Hemsworth Leads The Star-Studded Voice Cast
The most famous name associated with the character of Optimus Prime is Peter Cullen, who has voiced the Autobots’ leader in every one of the big screen adventures so far. However, the Transformers One voice cast is bringing in someone new to play the Autobots’ leader in his “youth.” Take a look at who else is joining him in the animated movie’s ensemble one by one below.
Chris Hemsworth (Orion Pax)
Succeeding the role of Optimus Prime (but as a younger robot when he was known as “Orion Pax”) in Transformers One is Chris Hemsworth. This marks the Australian actor’s first major voice acting gig — unless you count him reprising his MCU character, Thor, on Disney+’s animated anthology series, What If…?
Brian Tyree Henry (D-16)
Filling in as Megatron this time (but known as “D-16” at the time the prequel is set) is Academy Award nominee (for Causeway) Brian Tyree Henry of Atlanta fame. The actor recently lent his voice to the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse cast as Miles Morales’ dad, Jefferson, once again.
Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1)
Chris Hemsworth is not the only MCU veteran in the Transformers One cast, as Scarlett Johansson is starring as a devoted warrior named Elita-1. The two-time Oscar nominee’s own most notable voice acting roles include Mindy in The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie, Ash from the Sing and Sing 2 voice cast, and Samantha – an A.I. whom Joaquin Phoenix’s Theodore falls in love with in Her.
Laurence Fishburne (Alpha Trion)
The Transformers One cast also includes a veteran of the MCU (specifically Ant-Man and the Wasp) and the DC Extended Universe (as Perry White): Laurence Fishburne. The Oscar nominee (for What’s Love Got to Do with It) and star of the Matrix and John Wick movies seems like a perfect choice to play one of the oldest known Transformers, Alpha Trion.
Jon Hamm (Sentinel Prime)
Optimus Prime’s predecessor as Autobots’ leader, Sentinel Prime – who was portrayed by Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy in Transformers: Dark of the Moon — is voiced by Jon Hamm. The Emmy winner has numerous voice acting credits – including Herb Overkill in 2015’s Minions, Iron Man in Hulu’s Marvel-inspired series M.O.D.O.K., and a parody of his Mad Men cast role named Don Grouper on SpongeBob Squarepants.
Keegan-Michael Key (B-127)
Bumblebee normally speaks through his car radio in the live-action movies, but his younger counterpart, B-127, will be given a voice that sounds much like Keegan-Michael Key's natural voice, as the comedian told Collider. The Emmy winner has already led a very successful voice acting career that includes two roles alongside his former sketch comedy partner, Jordan Peele – namely in 2019’s Toy Story 4 and Netflix’s Wendell & Wild – and his completely unrecognizable performance in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie voice cast as Toad.
Steve Buscemi (TBA)
Also part of the Transformers One voice cast in a currently undisclosed role is Steve Buscemi, who is already part of the Transformers franchise, having voiced Daytrader in Transformers: The Last Knight. He also previously lent his unmistakable voice to animated favorites like Pixar’s Monsters Inc. and its prequel, Monsters University, and the Hotel Transylvania movies. Some of his most notable live-action credits include Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, and the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.
The Toy Story 4 Director Helms Transformers One
The same Deadline article that revealed this movie will exist outside the Bay-verse timeline also named Josh Cooley as the director. Not long before he was chosen for the job in 2020, the Pixar animator earned the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for his feature-length directorial debut, the aforementioned Toy Story 4.
Following Bumblebee (which was helmed by Travis Knight) and director Steven Caple Jr.’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, this will be the third movie in the franchise not directed by Michael Bay, whose filmography consists of a good chunk of fighting robot movies. However, he does have a producer’s credit, alongside Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian, and the aforementioned Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Fellow franchise veteran Steven Spielberg returns as executive producer, which he shares with Brian Goldner, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An.
Ant-Man Scribes Wrote Transformers One
A Deadline exclusive from 2015 names Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari — who wrote that year’s Ant-Man — as Paramount’s hires to pen the origin story. Also credited with writing the film — according to the same Deadline article that confirmed the September release date — are Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. The duo is best known at the moment for their work on the screenplay for M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the horror novel, Knock at the Cabin.
I think it's about time that this franchise puts out a movie that focuses entirely on the titular robots and isn't from the perspective of the humans who interact with them. I suppose there would be no better way to tell that story than through animation. In that respect, consider me primed for the release of Transformers One.
