Why ‘Transformers One’ is an Animated Movie

There have been numerous big-screen Transformers movies in recent years, including last year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. However, this fall’s Transformers One will mark the first fully-animated film in the franchise in almost four decades. Why was it necessary for the Cybertron-set tale of the Autobot-Decepticon war’s beginnings to be animated? Collider’s Steve Weintraub sat down with Transformers One director Josh Cooley at San Diego Comic-Con to find out.

…it’s all about the detail. With live-action, you have the real world to compete with when you’re designing a Transformer, so you need to see every single nut, bolt, and mechanism. An animated film allows you to exaggerate and to simplify things, as well. So, we didn’t need to see every single joint movement in the face.

Cooley also discussed how the relationship between Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) attracted him to the project:

That’s what got me involved from day one; I read that in the script. I was like, “This is totally new. An origin story where they’re friends at first?” That’s the challenge for this movie: How can we sell these characters that everybody knows as enemies as best friends? I knew that if we could do that and do it right, there’s always that underlying tension of, we know it’s gonna fall apart, which is great. You want that as a storyteller. You’re always playing with it. It’s heartbreaking in a way because people like seeing them together, love hearing Chris’ voice and Brian’s together.

You’ll be able to see for yourself when Transformers One rolls into theaters on September 20.

What Is ‘Transformers One’ About?

Taking place millions of years ago, when the mechanical planet Cybertron is at peace, Transformers One follows four misfit Transformers – Orion Pax, D-16, Elita (Scarlett Johansson), and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) – as they explore their world’s forgotten past and unlock strange new abilities. Soon, they’ll be called on to defend their world from the cruel alien Quintessons. Although they may become fast friends in the movie, Orion Pax and D-16 are fated to become Optimus Prime and Megatron, the respective leaders of the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Their two factions will clash in a devastating war that will raze their homeworld and eventually reach the planet Earth. The film will also star Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Steve Buscemi as Starscream.

The last theatrical animated Transformers movie was 1986’s Transformers: The Movie, which featured a bevy of celebrity voice actors, including Orson Welles, a hair-metal soundtrack, and, most infamously, the death of Optimus Prime. A financial disappointment upon its release, it has gone on to become a cult classic.

Transformers One will be released in theaters on September 20, 2024.