It’s the newest fad, and it seems like Michael Bay is now caught up in it too — 3D.
Bay, who once called 3D a “gimmick” (before Avatar came out) recently revealed in an interview on Starz that he’s been testing the process to see if it will work for Transformers 3:
It’s a process we’re testing with some Transformers scenes. [And] how successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.
The way he puts it implies that he’s using the technology that converts 2D film to 3D — which James Cameron, for his part, recently declared was “not the right way to do it.” Cameron prefers shooting from 3D from the get-go, using 3D cameras, but Bay has previously said that his shooting style doesn’t lend itself to be able to use the more fragile 3D tech.
So in other words, the current 3D phase consists of (1) some filmmakers denouncing some types of 3D, (2) some filmmakers not caring what kind of 3D they use, (3) some filmmakers not liking any kind of 3D, and (4) studios not caring as long as they turn everything into some kind of 3D because they can charge more for it.
But back to the original question: will Transformers 3 end up in 3D? Bay usually ends up doing what the studio tells him to do, so…probably.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is selling like crazy. 24 hours after its release on October 20th, it had sold a stunning two million copies.
That’s good news for Hollywood, where everyone is perpetually worried about falling DVD revenues (memo to Hollywood: it’s because of Blu-Ray, idiots).
A week later, the Blu-Ray and both DVD editions — a single-disc and a two-disc version — are all still among Amazon’s top twenty sellers in movies & TV (the Blu-Ray is on top at #3).
In other words, as the Hollywood Reporter said, the release was a nice “shot in the arm” for Paramount/DreamWorks.
After saying he wanted to wait three years before filming a third Transformers or suggesting that he might do a smaller movie called Pain and Gain before tackling another blockbuster, Michael Bay has unsurprisingly announced that he’s doing the exact opposite. Transformers 3 will come out on July 1st, 2011 — not 2012 like he’d been saying.
For all of Bay’s bravado, he’s a hired gun who does what he’s told (albeit thanks to massive amounts of money). Transformers 2 was the biggest movie of the summer, and if the studio wants a third one fast-tracked, they get what they want.
Bay posted the announcement himself at his official site, and managed to make fun of Megan Fox at the same time:
Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.
Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I’m flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.
P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.
Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.
As much as I ragged on Revenge of the Fallen for being really terrible, I liked the first Transformers a lot, and I think the franchise could be great again. Do I trust Michael Bay? No. But I never did. At this early stage, I have plenty of hope.
Wow, this one got messy fast. I was going to post an article on it a few days ago, but then new stuff just kept happening.
Basically, Megan Fox said some mildly rude things about Michael Bay, then a bunch of other people said rude stuff about Megan Fox, and then…actually, let me just post a timeline for you:
1. On September 2nd, the L.A. Times picked up the story that in the September issue of Wonderland Magazine, Megan Fox was quoted as saying:
[Michael Bay] wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for but when you get him away from set, and he’s not in director mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality because he’s so awkward, so hopelessly awkward. He has no social skills at all. It’s endearing to watch him. He’s so vulnerable and fragile in real life and then on set, he’s a tyrant.
2. “Megan Fox compares Michael Bay to Hitler” becomes a pseudo-story in the days following, mentioned on sites like Deadline Hollywood and Entertainment Weekly. From the latter on September 4th:
Yes, readers, the 23-year-old actress openly compared Michael Bay to the very definition of evil. Yep, she trash-talked the same person who helped make her career — the one she now seems hell-bent on squandering with her nonsensical rants. (Whatever you think of Bay and/or his movies, it’s a pretty ungracious move.)
3. On September 11th, “three Transformers crew members” post an anonymous open letter on Michael Bay’s own (fan-run) site blasting Fox and declaring their loyalty to Bay. The letter is pulled down the next day, but contains gems like:
Yes, Megan has great eyes, a tight stomach we spray with glycerin, and an awful silly Marilyn Monroe tattoo plastered on her arm that we cover up to keep the moms happy.
Michael found this shy, inexperienced girl, plucked her out of total obscurity thus giving her the biggest shot of any young actresses’ life. He told everyone around to just trust him on his choice. He granted her the starring role in Transformers, a franchise that forever changed her life; she became one of the most googled and oogled women on earth. She was famous! She was the next Angelina Jolie, hooray! Wait a minute, two of us worked with Angelina – second thought – she’s no Angelina. You see, Angelia is a professional.
We know this quite intimately because we’ve had the tedious experience of working with the dumb-as-a-rock Megan Fox on both Transformers movies. We’ve spent a total of 12 months on set making these two movies.
We are in different departments; we can’t give our names because sadly doing so in Hollywood could lead to being banished from future Paramount work.
And:
[W]e have never understood why Megan was always such the grump of the set?
When facing the press, Megan is the queen of talking trailer trash and posing like a porn star. And yes we’ve had the unbearable time of watching her try to act on set, and yes, it’s very cringe-able. So maybe, being a porn star in the future might be a good career option. But make-up beware, she has a paragraph tattooed to her backside (probably due her rotten childhood) — easily another 45 minutes in the chair!
So when the three of us caught wind of Ms Fox, pontificating yet again in some publication (like she actually has something interesting to say) blabbing her trash mouth about a director whom we three have grown to really like. She compared working with Michael, to “working with Hitler”. We actually don’t think she knows who Hitler is by the way.
Wait, still not done:
And who is the real Megan Fox? She is very different than the academy nominee and winning actors we’ve all worked around. She’s as about ungracious a person as you can ever fathom. She shows little interest in the crew members around her. We work to make her look good in every way, but she’s absolutely never appreciative of anyone’s hard work. Never a thank you. All the crewmembers have stopped saying hi to Ms. Princess because she never says hello back. It gets tiring. Many think she just really hates the process of being an actress.
Megan has been late to the sets many times. She goes through the motions that make her exude this sense of misery. We’ve heard the A.D’s piped over the radio that Megan won’t walk from her trailer until John Turturro walks first! John’s done seventy-five movies and she’s made two!
Never expect Megan to attend any of the 15 or so crew parties like all the other actors have. And then there’s the classless night she blew off The Royal Prince of Jordan who made a special dinner for all the actors. She doesn’t know that one of the grips’ daughters wanted to visit their daddy’s work to meet Megan, but he wouldn’t let them come because he told them “she is not nice.”
The press certainly doesn’t know her most famous line. On our first day in Egypt, the Egyptian government wouldn’t let us shoot because of a permit problem as the actors got ready in make up at the Four Seasons Hotel. Michael tried to make the best of it; he wanted to take the cast and crew on a private tour of the famous Giza pyramids. God hold us witness, Megan said, “I can’t believe Michael is fucking forcing us to go to the fucking pyramids!” I guess this is the “Hitler guy” she is referring to.
So this is the Megan Fox you don’t get to see. Maybe she will learn, but we figure if she can sling insults, then she can take them too. Megan really is a thankless, classless, graceless, and shall we say unfriendly bitch.
4. The next day, on September 12th, Michael Bay stepped in and became — holy crap — the tactful voice of reason:
I don’t condone the crew letter to Megan. And I don’t condone Megan’s outlandish quotes. But her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm. The fact of the matter I still love working with her, and I know we still get along. I even expect more crazy quotes from her on Transformers 3.
5. On Tuesday, September 15th, a non-anonymous crew member, Anthony Steinhart, posted another open letter in order to clear his name and defend Fox:
First of all, I would like people to know (for those who are interested) the reason why I am writing this letter is to clear my name in any of this Ms. Fox bashing. As someone pointed out in one of the responses, you could narrow down the list of potential writers of the letter by looking on IMDB. I have received a few phone calls from people who have read the letter and they know that I have worked closely with the actors/actresses on the film, so I felt I should at least clear my name.
My name is Anthony Steinhart and I have worked on both Transformers movies and have had the pleasure of working with Ms. Fox.
I read the letter by the three unnamed crew people and was blown away by their description of Ms. Fox. Especially, since I am the one usually getting Ms. Fox at her trailer. I have personally never been nor ever witnessed Ms. Fox being rude or inconsiderate of people’s feelings or the work to be done. Everyone is entitled to their good days and bad. Contrary to popular belief, she is like us (human) and has both good and bad days as well. Working on the Transformers movies can be intense at times and sometimes intense situations cause intense moments.
Some of the examples the three unnamed writers give as evidence of Ms. Fox and her horrible attitude are so ridiculous.
It’s unfortunate the grip didn’t want to bring his daughter to set because Megan Fox wasn’t nice and not the fact that we had a closed to set. No visitors unless approved by the UPM [unit production manager]. That is what the call sheets have always said. By the way, Ms. Fox wished my 12-year-old brother a happy birthday over the phone while we were shooting in New Mexico. Not so heartless.
6. Finally, the same day, Fox released a short statement via her publicist:
I have spoken with the parties involved privately. I am very fortunate to be involved in this amazing franchise and look forward to Transformers 3.
And that’s it…so far, at least.
The one striking thing from the whole ordeal? How childish some people can be. The anonymous crew member letter was — aside from being horribly edited and reading like three high school dropouts got drunk and decided to write a letter — immature, sexist, and far more rude than anything Fox may or may not have done to them.
And I don’t even particularly like Megan Fox. Or Michael Bay. But Fox’s not-very-well-thought-out original comments aside, they’re behaving like the grown-ups in all of this.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was finally able to top the $400 million mark here at the U.S. box office, on September 5th — its 74th day of release. Guess I was right. Paramount was quick to issue a press release:
HOLLYWOOD, CA (September 7, 2009) – Following its record smashing opening in late June, the worldwide hit “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” and now 9th biggest grossing film of all time, closed out the summer movie season with over $400 million earned at the U.S. box office.
“From its opening weekend, Transformers was defined by audiences as the must see movie of the season,” said Paramount Pictures Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey. “Combined with the successes of ‘Star Trek’ and ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,’ the summer of 2009 was a great one for Paramount’s franchises.”
From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, the Paramount Pictures sequel has earned more than $800 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film of the year, and surpassing its predecessor by over a $100 million.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, currently the biggest movie of the year, will pop up on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 20th. It’s a two-disc box set.
Disc one features the movie along with a commentary track from Michael Bay and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
(Sample exchange from the commentary — Bay: “Hey, remember when I told you to write this scene, but I didn’t really like what you came up with, but you didn’t have time to rewrite it so I just shot a bunch of shit and stitched it together in the editing room?” Orci: “Not really. Actually, I don’t remember much. You gave us a couple weeks to hammer out the script, and considering you were building the sets before we wrote anything, I just didn’t pay attention to what I was writing at all.”)
Disc 2 features all the extra goodies you’d expect:
The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen–This multi-chapter documentary chronicles the entire creation of the film and includes interviews with the cast and crew:
Seeds of Vengeance - Development and Design - After the overwhelming success of 2007’s Transformers, how do the filmmakers top themselves for the sequel?
Domestic Destruction - Production: United States - Michael Bay believes in going big: Big action and big explosions. Cast and crew are pushed to the limit as they traverse the U.S. from New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
Joint Operations - Production: Military - No other filmmaker in the world enjoys the kind of military access and cooperation Michael Bay has. Here we see just how efficient our armed forces are and the awe and respect shown by the cast.
Wonders of the World - Production: Middle East - You can’t really reproduce Egypt anywhere but Egypt so off we go to Giza and Luxor.
Start Making Sense - Editing - In order to turn over the massive amount of film as quickly as possible to VFX, four editors work tirelessly in a unique tag-team approach to shape the film.
Under the Gun - Visual Effects - Revenge of the Fallen features the most complicated VFX in film history. So complicated in fact that the filmmakers were unsure they would make the deadline. The DEVASTATOR VFX alone required 83% of ILM’s total render farm capacity.
Running the Gauntlet - Post-Production and Release - Working seven days a week, Michael Bay and company usher the film through sound design, Digital Intermediate color-timing and a globe-trotting whirlwind of premieres.
A Day with Bay: Tokyo–An intimate and fun all-access journey with Michael Bay as he travels to Tokyo, Japan for the world premiere of the biggest film of the year.
25 Years of TRANSFORMERS–Access an all-new featurette celebrating a monumental milestone for one of Hasbro’s most successful and popular franchises.
NEST: Transformer Data-Hub–Explore conceptual artwork created by the production for 12 of the most popular AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS from the film.
Deconstructing Visual Bayhem with Commentary by Pre-Vis Supervisor Steve Yamamoto– A series of multi-angle pre-visualization sequences allowing viewers to learn how some of the film’s most spectacular scenes were created with an introduction by Michael Bay.
Extended Scenes
Music Video: Linkin Park’s “New Divide”
Wow. The question is, will anybody who liked Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the “hot babes and sick explosions” actually sit through all this?
There’s also some exclusive Blu-Ray content:
The ALLSPARK Experiment–Viewers get their chance to unleash the power of the recently recovered ALLSPARK shard on Earth vehicles. Begin by selecting and customizing a vehicle with a selection of parts and accessories. Then apply the ALLSPARK to this creation and watch what happens. Applying the ALLSPARK to certain custom combinations enables four new robot characters with special powers. If viewers discover all four, they unlock a fifth vehicle, which reveals a top secret message about the future of the TRANSFORMERS movie franchise.
NEST: Transformer Data-Hub–A database of some of the TRANSFORMERS characters that appear in the new film, offering users access to each robot’s confidential file including:
Innovative 3D spin galleries of each robot
A timeline for each TRANSFORMERS character charting its origins, back story and design evolution from toys to animated series to comics and finally feature films
Giant Effing Movie - A very personal look at the making of the movie.
The Matrix of Marketing–An archive of the film’s promotional media including trailers, posters and television spots.
In other words, in true Bay style, they’re definitely going all out.
After a month in theaters, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has made a whopping $379.2 million. That’s enough to land in the #10 spot for highest-grossing movies in the U.S. ever, knocking out The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’s $377 million.
As the film is still running strong in theaters, it will probably end up in the #8 spot: under Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’s $423.3 million but above Spider-Man’s $403.7 million.
Keep in mind that this is only the U.S. list — in other countries, Revenge of the Fallen has made an additional $412 million for a $792 million worldwide gross. (Ironically, it won’t knock out Return of the King’s worldwide gross, which is over a billion dollars.)
Also keep in mind that the list isn’t adjusted for inflation. If you count the number of tickets sold, the #1 film of all time is…Gone with the Wind. Yes, it’s true: big robots, hobbits, pirates, and superheroes apparently still can’t touch Civil War melodramas. Lame?
The money just keeps pouring in over at Paramount thanks to Transformers 2’s wild box office success. Their favored method of basking in the glory: press releases. The newest one came in yesterday and announced that Transformers has reached $300 million domestically in only 14 days — a record eclipsed only by The Dark Knight. (How annoyed do you think they are about having to qualify everything as “second best”?)
Check out the full release for yourself:
After only 14-days in release, the worldwide hit “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” became the 2nd fastest film in movie history to earn $300 million in U.S. ticket sales, eclipsing the previous record-holder “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” by 2-days. From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg, the Paramount Pictures release trails only “The Dark Knight” in this record-setting achievement.
“Moviegoers everywhere propelled the film to this great success, paving the way for a phenomenal run” said Paramount Pictures Vice Chairman Rob Moore.
2007’s “Transformers” earned $319.2 million in its theatrical run, and more than $700 million worldwide. The sequel has already taken in over $600 million worldwide to date, conquering several records including:
•Biggest Wednesday-Sunday opening of all time.
•Biggest Wednesday opening of all time.
•Paramount’s biggest international opening of all time.
•3rd biggest worldwide opening weekend of all time.
•4th biggest international opening of all time.
Planning on seeing it again? Not like it needs your help…
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen rocketed to a five-day Wednesday-to-Sunday opening north of $200 million — only the second film after The Dark Knight to do that. And it just made another $14.9 million on Monday. In other words, there’s no stopping it — whether or not you liked it (and to be sure, a heck of a lot of people did), Transformers has briefly taken over the world.
At its current pace, it’ll break through the $300 million mark on Sunday — becoming the highest-grossing film of the year after twelve days.
You could see the effect it had on other films out, too. The two comedies targeted at teenage boys — Year One and Land of the Lost — both plummeted by 70% from the week before. (Somewhat surprisingly, The Hangover and Star Trek both had good holds — I guess if you’re good, you’re good.)
It also humorously overpowered the tearjerker My Sister’s Keeper, which made $12 million…a whopping 6% of what Transformers 2 made.
After $16 million worth of overnight showings,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen scored the biggest Wednesday gross of any movie ever, with $60.6 million. That beats the previous record, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’s $44.2 million, by quite a lot.
In fact, the gross is now the second-biggest opening of any day. It came up short only to The Dark Knight’s 67.1 million Friday gross last year, and beat Spider-Man 3’s $59.8 million.
According to early estimates, Revenge of the Fallen followed it up with a $28 million Thursday gross, $3 million more than Paramount expected. That puts it on track to make more than $185 million in its first five days.
The Dark Knight did $203.8 million in five days, so the record is still slightly out of reach, but the simple fact is that Revenge of the Fallen is a monster. And it’s a good thing considering there hasn’t yet been a $300 million movie yet this summer.
Last year, before Batman hit, we had two — Iron Man and Indiana Jones. This year, Wolverine hit $170, Terminator disappointed with $120, and Star Trek and Up are both hovering in the mid-$200s. As successful as both of those two films are, now we can safely say that thanks to Transformers, the summer finally feels alive.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened today. Which means it actually opened last night, at midnight, and after those showings, it had 3 a.m. showings. The result? $16 million bucks already. Only The Dark Knight and Star Wars Episode III have done better overnight business.
According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, rival studios were guessing Transformers 2 would do $10-12 million. Heh. If there’s this much excitement, look for a Wednesday to Sunday tally of $160 million or more. Again, The Dark Knight is still untouchable — it made $158 million in Friday to Sunday alone — but for sure, Michael Bay’s latest flick is going to end up being the biggest movie of the summer, unless it crashes too hard in the second weekend and Harry Potter shows particularly good legs next month. I’ll keep you updated as we get closer to the weekend.
A new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen clip emerged that features the mini-Transformer Wheelie and some awkward humor of the sort that only Michael Bay can provide. Luckily, it also features Megan Fox. Check it out below.
We’ve got the full-length trailer, lots of stills, and all the TV spots — all that’s left are lots and lots of Transformer-centric posters that’ll keep debuting up until the movie’s release. And what do you know? Here are six right now…
Eight Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen stills were just released, all of which you can check out in the gallery below (click each one for a much bigger look).
Only two are of Megan Fox, but we also get out first look at Isabel Lucas’s characer, “Alice.” We surmised earlier this year that Alice is probably an evil Decepticon Pretender, and the photo doesn’t even seem to want to hide that: she looks so obviously evil it’s almost laughable.
Other than the girls, we’ve got Bumblebee and Optimus in vehicle form, the introduction of Sam’s friend Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), and the return of Jon Turturro and Tyrese Gibson. Without further ado…
The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen full trailer was just released, and aside from being pretty awesome in its own right, it also includes this criminally hot shot of Megan Fox you see. Of course, there are also pyramids, explosions, and giant battling robots…which are almost, but not quite, as good. Check it out…
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Plot and Cast Info
The battle for Earth has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertron, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with force. The Autobots believing that peace was possible finds out that Megatron's dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorpinox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge and with Starscream and more Decepticon reinforcements on the way, the Autobots with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with then meets the eye.
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Rainn Wilson, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Matthew Marsden, Ramon Rodriguez, Jennifer Alden
Transformers 1 Movie Plot and Cast Info
The Earth is caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between two races of robots, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, which are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations.
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson, Megan Fox
It’s the newest fad, and it seems like Michael Bay is now caught up in it too — 3D.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
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