Transformers One

Transformers One (2024) shows Optimus Prime and Megatron before they became enemies. Orion Pax and D-16 are friends, both mining robots without the ability to transform, working beneath Cybertron. The film looks for the moment that separated them. It is the first fully animated Transformers film in cinemas in nearly forty years, the previous one having come out in 1986. Industrial Light & Magic animated it, and the design draws on both the original toy generation and Art Deco. Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax and Brian Tyree Henry voices D-16. Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm fill out the cast. Critics liked it, with 89 percent of 170 reviews positive and an A from audiences on CinemaScore. It still failed commercially, grossing 129 million dollars worldwide against a budget reported between 75 and 147 million. It opened behind Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and fell 62.8 percent in its second weekend. It runs 104 minutes. Good for: anyone invested in the Transformers universe, origin stories, and family animation. Less good for: the names come thick and fast if you know nothing about the series. The comedy interrupts the story at times, and the final act settles into a familiar battle.