New Details on The BUMBLEBEE Spinoff Film, Which is Compared to THE IRON GIANT
The last bit of information we learned about the upcoming Bumblebee Transformers spinoff movie was that it would be set in the 80s and that it would have "less robots". We now have some additional details to share with you regarding the film.
During a recent interview with Collider, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura talked about the film and confirmed that it would be set in 1985, which is kind of a golden year for anyone who grew up in the 80s. He said:
“I know we’re doing a spinoff first in the Bumblebee movie, and that is a very distinctive departure from what you’ve been seeing so far… The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots in a way, and to go back to 1985 and go back to sort of the original heritage if you would of the Transformers. G1.”
1985 was the year that the Transformers toy line was first officially introduced to the United States. The cartoon premiered in 1984 but was in full swing awesomeness by the time 1985 rolled around. I have no doubt we'll see some nods to the history of the franchise in the movie. Bonaventura goes on to say:
“So it has a very distinct idea in it, and then whatever is gonna happen with the chemistry is what’s gonna happen, but it really is a young female lead opposite Bumblebee, and I think Optimus is gonna be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”
The lead female role in the film is being played by Hailee Steinfeld, who is a fantastic young actress, who is sure to bring some class to the movie. I'm actually excited about the talent that they have developing the film. They brought in Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) to direct and when talking about why they hired him to take on the project, Bonaventura says:
“There are dramatically less Transformers. We hired purposefully Travis Knight, who is a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael—you’re gonna lose. And also I think the audience wants something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. They’re gonna get a very emotionally complex story, a very tight story in terms of its location and in terms of its storytelling.”
Knight will definitely be able to bring something different and unique to the franchise, which is something I've been wanting to see with these films. But with Michael Bay, we basically keep getting the same thing over and over again. The producer then drops a major tease, comparing the film to The Iron Giant:
“In fact it reminds me a little bit of Iron Giant years ago when I did that movie at Warner Bros. It just reminds me a little bit of that where it was very contained and yet it didn’t feel small.”
Look, The Iron Giant is one of my favorite films of all time. If this Bumblebee film actually has a little inspiration from that movie, then maybe, just maybe there's a chance it could be one the better Transformers films made.
With the movie centering around a girl and her giant robot, I guess it's not hard to compare to a film like The Iron Giant. Hopefully, the story they come up with for the Bumblebee movie is as strong. But, let's be honest... that's going to be a hard feat.