Transformers One broke a particularly disappointing box office record that fans will not be writing home about.
The animated Transformers prequel, which recounted the originals of the franchise's iconic hero-villain duo of Optimus Prime and Megatron, came to theaters on September 20, 2024.
The movie was heralded as one of the best (if not the best) movies in the Transformers franchise, only trailing 2018's Bumblebee as the best-reviewed movie in the long-running big-screen series.
Transformers One: A Record-Breaking Box Office Bomb
As Transformers One rounded out its run in theaters, the film broke the record for the most disappointing box office return in franchise history.
The animated Cybertonians prequel story ended its nearly 10-week run in theaters the week of Friday, November 21, 2024, bringing in a meager $128,888,013 at the international box office.
This was enough to break the mark for the lowest box office return in Transformers franchise history, barely making a quarter of $441 million figures of the second-worst film earning in the series, 2019's Rise of the Beasts.
For more than a decade, the Transformers name was closely associated with box office success.
More than once, the series has eclipsed the vaunted $1 billion mark, with two films appearing in the top 40 highest-grossing movies of all time
Below is a full list of the Transformers movies and their box office hauls:
- Transformers (2007) - $709,709,780
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - $836,303,693
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - $1,123,794,079
- Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) - $1,105,261,713
- Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) - $605,425,157
- Bumblebee (2018) - $467,989,645
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) - $441,381,193
- Transformers One (2024) - $128,888,103
Why Did Transformers One Fail?
For fans, hearing this disappointing Transformers One news will be disheartening.
The animated blockbuster has been claimed as one of the best in recent memory, drawing comparisons to other greats of animation like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, yet it simply did not perform at the ticket window.
What is interesting is, looking at the franchise as a whole, the worst-reviewed of the series have been its highest earners.
It is instead the critically acclaimed Bumblebee and Transformers One that, despite being celebrated by the filmgoing community, ultimately failed to reach those heights.
That, however, may have more to do with the brand itself than it does with the movies. The Transformers name has been sullied to many (including some of the executives behind the series) thanks to subpar entries into the franchise making it to the big screen.
Looking at the numbers, it is after critical flops like Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction that the box office numbers surrounding the series started to fall off.
Fans can only hope Transformers One finds a second life on streaming enough to potentially get a sequel.
Until then, work continues on the next live-action entry into the transforming franchise (which will feature a GI Joe crossover), as the series hopes to reclaim the financial goodwill it once had.
Transformers One is now streaming on Paramount+.
