Just like the latest Mummy attempt, this one is all about growing the Chinese fanbase where the money is, not about western audiences or artistic integrity. Once you get yourself around this type of movie business venture, it makes a lot more sense when trying to comprehend why they exist as they are. Because for both IPs, this is only the beginning, bushy tailed humans! Don't struggle or resist, it only hurts more if you do.
https://www.filmschoolrejects.com/transformers-the-last-knight-box-office/amp/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/transformers-last-knight-has-pandering-chinese-audiences-hurt-transformers-5-1016926
So at least the citizens of the country where all the toys were getting made are now bearing the cinematic fruit of their labours. Silver lining there.
https://www.filmschoolrejects.com/transformers-the-last-knight-box-office/amp/
These movies aren?t made for the critics ? or anyone else in America anymore.
It?s nothing new that Hollywood produces a lot of its blockbusters primarily for the foreign markets. Three years ago, Transformers: Age of Extinction was clearly made with Chinese audiences in mind, more so than any others in the world. So, now it should be no surprise that Americans have all but given up on the franchise.
Transformers: The Last Knight took in an estimated $45M in its opening weekend. $45M! Compare that to Age of Extinction?s $100M, and before that to Dark of the Moon?s $98M, and before that to Revenge of the Fallen?s $109M, and before that to the original Transformer?s $71M. It?s almost a laughing matter.
And that?s before adjusting for inflation (respectively $106M, $109M, $129M, and $91M) or comparing the first week?s debut grosses through first Sunday ? The Last Knight, like many of the Transformers movies, opened on a weekday. Its full estimated take through yesterday is still only $69M. Respectively that compares to $106M, $181M, $237M, and $200M.
With reportedly the highest budget of the franchise yet, at $217M, you?d think this was a flop for Paramount. But The Last Knight is still a decent-sized hit in disguise, because of course it still made $196M overseas. That just barely puts the movie in the top 20 highest overseas openings of all time, between the fifth Harry Potter and third Iron Man.
But it is way down from the last two (Age is in 14th place with $202M, Dark is in 10th place with $220M). Where it lost us in North America, though, Transformers understandably gained more fans in China, even without shooting the new movie there or featuring any local pop stars in cameos. The Last Knight did a franchise best in the country, with $123M (Age only debuted there at $92M).
Compared to Age, opening grosses were down in all other foreign markets where it debut this past week: South Korea ($13M vs. $16M), Russia ($9M vs. $21M), the UK ($6M vs. $20M), Germany ($5M vs. $11M), Australia ($4M vs. $8M), Philippines ($3M vs. $6M), Malaysia ($3M vs. $7M), Thailand ($3M vs. $4M), Singapore ($2M vs. $4M), Italy ($2M vs. $4M), and even Hong Kong ($2.5M vs. $5M), where much of Age was shot.
It would seem there?s not just Transformers fatigue in America but all over the globe except for China. The question is: are there still enough fans worldwide, at least in China if it comes down to that, to justify not just the continuation of the Transformers series but a new cinematic universe full of prequels and spin-offs, and more.
Although only one such prequel spin-off is definitely in the works right now, the 1980s-set Bumblebee due in theaters in one year, Paramount has intended to do more. Many writers have been developing possible ideas for other ways to branch out, maybe even cross over with other properties, Michael Bay has revealed there are at least a dozen or so ideas he?d like made, and The Last Knight itself teases a greater scope for the franchise.
Maybe there?s some kind of jinx for Hollywood in announcing plans for a mega-franchise cinematic universe these days. Unless you?re a definite superhero property like Marvel, DC, or X-Men, or of a lower-budget genre like horror (see what The Conjuring has been spawning), there?s no use in forcing ideas like Universal Monsters and Transformers extended universes. Except that they might at least be successful elsewhere.
Universal?s The Mummy is supposed to launch a web of interrelated remakes featuring Frankenstein?s Monster, his bride, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more, but that first movie is a box office disappointment. The studio isn?t canceling the plan, but there is certainly concern for the future of the Dark Universe franchise.
Eighty percent of its gross so far has come from overseas, with its highest numbers again coming from China. The Mummy director Alex Kurtzman defended the movie with the old ?we made a film for audiences and not critics? line, but that?s not entirely correct. He made a movie for international audiences and not American audiences or critics. The Mummy?s clear favoring of stunts and spectacle over story on the level that it does so can only be tolerated by viewers with a language barrier who don?t pay attention to the script.
Once upon a time, Hollywood produced separate versions of movies for foreign audiences. Dracula, one of the early Universal Monsters movies, is a famous example where there was an English-language version and a Spanish-language version, as in two distinct movies not just different dubs. It?s almost as if the studios are doing that again today, but they produce a version for China and then nothing for Americans.
Maybe the America version is just Paramount letting us have Arrival and Martin Scorsese?s Silence and whatever the studio has for prestige pictures this fall, as alternatives. The successes of Get Out and, from the looks of this weekend?s terrific per-screen-averages, The Big Sick and The Beguiled are more notable as tentpole sequels, while still generally making more than the indies, are underperforming for their series.
Of course the superhero mega-franchises are still kicking butt as we close out the first half of the year this week with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, and Wonder Woman all improvements over their most direct franchise counterparts (Guardians 2 has shot past Guardians 1 here and abroad, Logan is the best of the Wolverine-focused X-Men movies and bettered the last main X-Men movie, and Wonder Woman is about to become the top-grossing DC Extended Universe movie domestically).
All three of those were very well-received by critics and audience alike, too. They?re not just blockbuster trash. Unlike Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy, they?re good movies. Maybe it?s not true in all areas of life and culture these days, but Americans do have good taste, as is evident in the films we?re choosing to go see in theaters.
It?s nothing new that Hollywood produces a lot of its blockbusters primarily for the foreign markets. Three years ago, Transformers: Age of Extinction was clearly made with Chinese audiences in mind, more so than any others in the world. So, now it should be no surprise that Americans have all but given up on the franchise.
Transformers: The Last Knight took in an estimated $45M in its opening weekend. $45M! Compare that to Age of Extinction?s $100M, and before that to Dark of the Moon?s $98M, and before that to Revenge of the Fallen?s $109M, and before that to the original Transformer?s $71M. It?s almost a laughing matter.
And that?s before adjusting for inflation (respectively $106M, $109M, $129M, and $91M) or comparing the first week?s debut grosses through first Sunday ? The Last Knight, like many of the Transformers movies, opened on a weekday. Its full estimated take through yesterday is still only $69M. Respectively that compares to $106M, $181M, $237M, and $200M.
With reportedly the highest budget of the franchise yet, at $217M, you?d think this was a flop for Paramount. But The Last Knight is still a decent-sized hit in disguise, because of course it still made $196M overseas. That just barely puts the movie in the top 20 highest overseas openings of all time, between the fifth Harry Potter and third Iron Man.
But it is way down from the last two (Age is in 14th place with $202M, Dark is in 10th place with $220M). Where it lost us in North America, though, Transformers understandably gained more fans in China, even without shooting the new movie there or featuring any local pop stars in cameos. The Last Knight did a franchise best in the country, with $123M (Age only debuted there at $92M).
Compared to Age, opening grosses were down in all other foreign markets where it debut this past week: South Korea ($13M vs. $16M), Russia ($9M vs. $21M), the UK ($6M vs. $20M), Germany ($5M vs. $11M), Australia ($4M vs. $8M), Philippines ($3M vs. $6M), Malaysia ($3M vs. $7M), Thailand ($3M vs. $4M), Singapore ($2M vs. $4M), Italy ($2M vs. $4M), and even Hong Kong ($2.5M vs. $5M), where much of Age was shot.
It would seem there?s not just Transformers fatigue in America but all over the globe except for China. The question is: are there still enough fans worldwide, at least in China if it comes down to that, to justify not just the continuation of the Transformers series but a new cinematic universe full of prequels and spin-offs, and more.
Although only one such prequel spin-off is definitely in the works right now, the 1980s-set Bumblebee due in theaters in one year, Paramount has intended to do more. Many writers have been developing possible ideas for other ways to branch out, maybe even cross over with other properties, Michael Bay has revealed there are at least a dozen or so ideas he?d like made, and The Last Knight itself teases a greater scope for the franchise.
Maybe there?s some kind of jinx for Hollywood in announcing plans for a mega-franchise cinematic universe these days. Unless you?re a definite superhero property like Marvel, DC, or X-Men, or of a lower-budget genre like horror (see what The Conjuring has been spawning), there?s no use in forcing ideas like Universal Monsters and Transformers extended universes. Except that they might at least be successful elsewhere.
Universal?s The Mummy is supposed to launch a web of interrelated remakes featuring Frankenstein?s Monster, his bride, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more, but that first movie is a box office disappointment. The studio isn?t canceling the plan, but there is certainly concern for the future of the Dark Universe franchise.
Eighty percent of its gross so far has come from overseas, with its highest numbers again coming from China. The Mummy director Alex Kurtzman defended the movie with the old ?we made a film for audiences and not critics? line, but that?s not entirely correct. He made a movie for international audiences and not American audiences or critics. The Mummy?s clear favoring of stunts and spectacle over story on the level that it does so can only be tolerated by viewers with a language barrier who don?t pay attention to the script.
Once upon a time, Hollywood produced separate versions of movies for foreign audiences. Dracula, one of the early Universal Monsters movies, is a famous example where there was an English-language version and a Spanish-language version, as in two distinct movies not just different dubs. It?s almost as if the studios are doing that again today, but they produce a version for China and then nothing for Americans.
Maybe the America version is just Paramount letting us have Arrival and Martin Scorsese?s Silence and whatever the studio has for prestige pictures this fall, as alternatives. The successes of Get Out and, from the looks of this weekend?s terrific per-screen-averages, The Big Sick and The Beguiled are more notable as tentpole sequels, while still generally making more than the indies, are underperforming for their series.
Of course the superhero mega-franchises are still kicking butt as we close out the first half of the year this week with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, and Wonder Woman all improvements over their most direct franchise counterparts (Guardians 2 has shot past Guardians 1 here and abroad, Logan is the best of the Wolverine-focused X-Men movies and bettered the last main X-Men movie, and Wonder Woman is about to become the top-grossing DC Extended Universe movie domestically).
All three of those were very well-received by critics and audience alike, too. They?re not just blockbuster trash. Unlike Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy, they?re good movies. Maybe it?s not true in all areas of life and culture these days, but Americans do have good taste, as is evident in the films we?re choosing to go see in theaters.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/transformers-last-knight-has-pandering-chinese-audiences-hurt-transformers-5-1016926
THR attends a Shanghai screening of Michael Bay's latest only to encounter walkouts, general disinterest and plenty of snickering over a conspicuous abundance of product placement.
Friday, 5.00 p.m. somewhere in central Shanghai.
It's raining heavily outside. Big fat water droplets are falling vertically from the murky gray sky. They call it 'plum rain' in these parts.
Right now, there's no better place to be than indoors and as coincidence would have it, it was opening night for Transformers: The Last Knight, perhaps the most hotly anticipated Hollywood release in China this year. Thus, the multiplex beckoned.
I purchase a ticket for a 5.10 p.m. 3D showing at the Premiere Cinema in Shanghai's Jing'an district, and the cost is a princely $23.50 (RMB160). Yes, you read that right, it can be over $20 for a 3D ticket for Hollywood movies in central Shanghai these days. In China, this is not a cheap night out.
I had been a little worried that I wouldn't get a seat on opening weekend, or if I did, it would be at the sides or right down in front of the screen. Given the time of day and the hard-to-miss fanfare for Transformers in China, I imagined Shanghai's youthful middle class would be rushing from work to grab the earliest glimpse of giant robots smashing each other to pieces for the fifth time.
I needn't have worried as the box office clerk gave me my pick of seats. (In China, as in most of Asia, movie theater seating is assigned, and you pick your place from a screen as you buy your ticket ? which is actually quite nice.) A quick glance at the box office seating chart seemed to confirm that well over half the theater was still to be sold with the screening due to start in minutes.
Still, I figured the theater would fill up as the trailers rolled. But once we were getting underway, very few extra people walked in.
(I don't think I need to say much about The Last Knight itself, beyond that it's a Michael Bay movie ? if you've seen one, you get the idea. I actually found myself enjoying most of the runtime by observing the crowds' reactions. Click here if you're curious about the film but not so much to actually go and see it.)
The opening minutes of the film, set in Arthurian England and featuring a number of sight gags involving a drunken Merlin seem to leave both me and most of the audience unmoved. Indeed, throughout the film, the intentionally comedic moments don't seem to elicit much reaction from the audience. Instead, their biggest laughs are almost universally reserved for the moments of blatant product placement by Chinese companies.
And boy, is there a lot of product placement.
With the audience quickly learning to play spot-the-brand, giggles start rising in the cinema as the Chinese dairy drink Mengniu makes an appearance at Mark Wahlberg's very-much-in-America scrap yard. Smartphones from LeEco, the financially strapped Chinese tech company, seem to be the brand of choice in the film. And the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is for some reason everywhere. The biggest laugh, however, arrives at the most unsubtle piece of pandering: the moment when the Autobots and their American friends are looking up 'car porn' on a Chinese used car website.
An hour in, and glancing around the theater, I can see the low glow of mobile phone screens dotted around in the darkness. My neighbor to my left is diligently checking his WeChat, the Chinese social messaging app that's a cross between Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. He's clearly much more absorbed by what's going down in his social grid than Anthony Hopkins' admirable (though ultimately futile) attempt at explaining the convoluted history of the Witwiccans, an ancient secret society tasked with protecting the Transformers from the wider world.
Though the Last Knight is shorter in length than the last two entries, the film is still well over two hours, and as the movie finally starts edging towards its explosive, climactic ending, some people begin to leave. A few at first, just as Unicron and Cybertron begin to crash and collide together, then a fairly steady stream are straight-up walking out of the cinema just as the final battle is taking place.
Well before the credits role, the theater is almost empty, although my phone-absorbed neighbor (I suspect he's avoiding the rain outside at this point) and a few other hardy souls have stuck around to see the mid-credits scene. [Spoilers ahoy!] He looks on impassively as we see the villainess of Last Knight, Quintessa, reappearing in the body of British actress Gemma Chan. Despite her Chinese ethnicity, Chan isn't much of a name in mainland China, so one wonders if her appearance, like much of the rest of the film, was lost on those that stayed till the end ? it certainly seems so.
----
One week later, the figures for Last Knight's China opening are in and the numbers will have Paramount sweating. The headline figures, of course, make for impressive reading, with Last Knight opening at no. 1, with a $123 million weekend, a record for the franchise and topping the $92 million Age of Extinction made its first full week in 2014. The China tally also is almost double the film's disappointing $69.1 million North American opening.
The film's seven-day total has now ticked past $166.7 million according to Chinese box office data company Entgroup. Yet, there's a feeling that Last Knight is shaping up to be a disappointment and instead of bettering the $320 million haul of Age of Extinction, the film is likely to fall well short.
When it came to marketing Last Knight, Paramount covered all the bases. Transformers may be about "robots in disguise" but a few hours spent in any major Chinese city and the robots are in plain sight, with posters, billboards, TV adverts linked to the movie at saturation levels. A particularly popular promotional tool in China has been the life-size replicas of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that menacingly stand outside movie theaters and shopping malls across the country.
Moreover, Paramount mitigated a lot of its promotional costs in China by partnering with Wanda, the leading theater chain, as well a number of other Chinese companies including Le Vision and Weying. And of course, there are the plethora of Chinese companies pushing their products prominently in the film.
Ultimately, Last Knight hasn't ignited the same critical love or word of mouth Age of Extinction enjoyed in spades. The last movie became a genuine phenomenon in China, with several wacky stories of farmers building their own robots. By tapping into the zeitgeist in China, Age of Extinction was able to smash box office records.
Last Knight, on the other hand, has been pilloried on Chinese social media, particularly for the product placement and the confusing plot, and this audience kiss of death is what is likely to dash any hopes the film had of beating Age of Extinction's box office score.
On Sina Weibo, one of the larger social media platforms, user Lu Lihao RS summed a general feeling about the confusing nature of the film, writing that "I didn?t understand anything except advertisements for all the brands."
Another Sina Weibo user named Wang echoed the issue with product placement. "Even though it is normal to add Chinese elements into the Hollywood blockbusters, it still makes the audience uncomfortable when there are too many Chinese brands,? Wang wrote.
On review site Douban, Last Knight had an average rating of 4.8 on Wednesday and was dropping fast. The influential site's consensus is overwhelmingly negative on Last Knight, although if there is a small consolation for the producers, there was some praise for the special effects, if not for the humor or plot.
Still, for some, and not necessarily Paramount and its Chinese partners, Last Knight's box office travails shouldn't prove a hindrance to making money. Despite the tepid critical response to the fifth film, Transformers merchandise, both official and blatantly unofficial abound in China. Everywhere, from the airport to the shiny new malls, the theaters and street vendors at major tourist attractions, all manner of Transformers merchandise (yes, fidget spinners too) seem to be selling briskly suggesting that, in the end, the greatest product placement in the Last Knight was the robots themselves.
Friday, 5.00 p.m. somewhere in central Shanghai.
It's raining heavily outside. Big fat water droplets are falling vertically from the murky gray sky. They call it 'plum rain' in these parts.
Right now, there's no better place to be than indoors and as coincidence would have it, it was opening night for Transformers: The Last Knight, perhaps the most hotly anticipated Hollywood release in China this year. Thus, the multiplex beckoned.
I purchase a ticket for a 5.10 p.m. 3D showing at the Premiere Cinema in Shanghai's Jing'an district, and the cost is a princely $23.50 (RMB160). Yes, you read that right, it can be over $20 for a 3D ticket for Hollywood movies in central Shanghai these days. In China, this is not a cheap night out.
I had been a little worried that I wouldn't get a seat on opening weekend, or if I did, it would be at the sides or right down in front of the screen. Given the time of day and the hard-to-miss fanfare for Transformers in China, I imagined Shanghai's youthful middle class would be rushing from work to grab the earliest glimpse of giant robots smashing each other to pieces for the fifth time.
I needn't have worried as the box office clerk gave me my pick of seats. (In China, as in most of Asia, movie theater seating is assigned, and you pick your place from a screen as you buy your ticket ? which is actually quite nice.) A quick glance at the box office seating chart seemed to confirm that well over half the theater was still to be sold with the screening due to start in minutes.
Still, I figured the theater would fill up as the trailers rolled. But once we were getting underway, very few extra people walked in.
(I don't think I need to say much about The Last Knight itself, beyond that it's a Michael Bay movie ? if you've seen one, you get the idea. I actually found myself enjoying most of the runtime by observing the crowds' reactions. Click here if you're curious about the film but not so much to actually go and see it.)
The opening minutes of the film, set in Arthurian England and featuring a number of sight gags involving a drunken Merlin seem to leave both me and most of the audience unmoved. Indeed, throughout the film, the intentionally comedic moments don't seem to elicit much reaction from the audience. Instead, their biggest laughs are almost universally reserved for the moments of blatant product placement by Chinese companies.
And boy, is there a lot of product placement.
With the audience quickly learning to play spot-the-brand, giggles start rising in the cinema as the Chinese dairy drink Mengniu makes an appearance at Mark Wahlberg's very-much-in-America scrap yard. Smartphones from LeEco, the financially strapped Chinese tech company, seem to be the brand of choice in the film. And the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is for some reason everywhere. The biggest laugh, however, arrives at the most unsubtle piece of pandering: the moment when the Autobots and their American friends are looking up 'car porn' on a Chinese used car website.
An hour in, and glancing around the theater, I can see the low glow of mobile phone screens dotted around in the darkness. My neighbor to my left is diligently checking his WeChat, the Chinese social messaging app that's a cross between Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. He's clearly much more absorbed by what's going down in his social grid than Anthony Hopkins' admirable (though ultimately futile) attempt at explaining the convoluted history of the Witwiccans, an ancient secret society tasked with protecting the Transformers from the wider world.
Though the Last Knight is shorter in length than the last two entries, the film is still well over two hours, and as the movie finally starts edging towards its explosive, climactic ending, some people begin to leave. A few at first, just as Unicron and Cybertron begin to crash and collide together, then a fairly steady stream are straight-up walking out of the cinema just as the final battle is taking place.
Well before the credits role, the theater is almost empty, although my phone-absorbed neighbor (I suspect he's avoiding the rain outside at this point) and a few other hardy souls have stuck around to see the mid-credits scene. [Spoilers ahoy!] He looks on impassively as we see the villainess of Last Knight, Quintessa, reappearing in the body of British actress Gemma Chan. Despite her Chinese ethnicity, Chan isn't much of a name in mainland China, so one wonders if her appearance, like much of the rest of the film, was lost on those that stayed till the end ? it certainly seems so.
----
One week later, the figures for Last Knight's China opening are in and the numbers will have Paramount sweating. The headline figures, of course, make for impressive reading, with Last Knight opening at no. 1, with a $123 million weekend, a record for the franchise and topping the $92 million Age of Extinction made its first full week in 2014. The China tally also is almost double the film's disappointing $69.1 million North American opening.
The film's seven-day total has now ticked past $166.7 million according to Chinese box office data company Entgroup. Yet, there's a feeling that Last Knight is shaping up to be a disappointment and instead of bettering the $320 million haul of Age of Extinction, the film is likely to fall well short.
When it came to marketing Last Knight, Paramount covered all the bases. Transformers may be about "robots in disguise" but a few hours spent in any major Chinese city and the robots are in plain sight, with posters, billboards, TV adverts linked to the movie at saturation levels. A particularly popular promotional tool in China has been the life-size replicas of Optimus Prime and Bumblebee that menacingly stand outside movie theaters and shopping malls across the country.
Moreover, Paramount mitigated a lot of its promotional costs in China by partnering with Wanda, the leading theater chain, as well a number of other Chinese companies including Le Vision and Weying. And of course, there are the plethora of Chinese companies pushing their products prominently in the film.
Ultimately, Last Knight hasn't ignited the same critical love or word of mouth Age of Extinction enjoyed in spades. The last movie became a genuine phenomenon in China, with several wacky stories of farmers building their own robots. By tapping into the zeitgeist in China, Age of Extinction was able to smash box office records.
Last Knight, on the other hand, has been pilloried on Chinese social media, particularly for the product placement and the confusing plot, and this audience kiss of death is what is likely to dash any hopes the film had of beating Age of Extinction's box office score.
On Sina Weibo, one of the larger social media platforms, user Lu Lihao RS summed a general feeling about the confusing nature of the film, writing that "I didn?t understand anything except advertisements for all the brands."
Another Sina Weibo user named Wang echoed the issue with product placement. "Even though it is normal to add Chinese elements into the Hollywood blockbusters, it still makes the audience uncomfortable when there are too many Chinese brands,? Wang wrote.
On review site Douban, Last Knight had an average rating of 4.8 on Wednesday and was dropping fast. The influential site's consensus is overwhelmingly negative on Last Knight, although if there is a small consolation for the producers, there was some praise for the special effects, if not for the humor or plot.
Still, for some, and not necessarily Paramount and its Chinese partners, Last Knight's box office travails shouldn't prove a hindrance to making money. Despite the tepid critical response to the fifth film, Transformers merchandise, both official and blatantly unofficial abound in China. Everywhere, from the airport to the shiny new malls, the theaters and street vendors at major tourist attractions, all manner of Transformers merchandise (yes, fidget spinners too) seem to be selling briskly suggesting that, in the end, the greatest product placement in the Last Knight was the robots themselves.
So at least the citizens of the country where all the toys were getting made are now bearing the cinematic fruit of their labours. Silver lining there.
