"Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts"—What We Know

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is slated to be one of the summer's biggest movies. Headed for a June 9 release, it will likely be one of the year's biggest blockbusters. Given the franchise's reputation, the movie will likely be big, loud, and make a lot of money. Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II) is set to direct. Here's what we know so far.

The seventh film in the Transformers franchise will be another prequel. The series began with the original Transformers in 2007, helmed by Michael Bay. It continued chronologically with the next four films before the brand returned in time for Bumblebee. Now, they're continuing that trend.

Rise of the Beasts is set in 1994, which dates it before the original films, which were set in the present day (2007-2017). However, Bumblebee was set in 1987, making it the franchise's earliest film. The newest offering will probably fill the gap between the two films, and Bumblebee figures to be a big part of it. It is considered a sequel to Bumblebee, which implies that the continuity established in that and the original films will remain. They have avoided a total reboot for now, and all the films remain canon. It's unclear if the announced animated Transformers film will connect or not.

As always, this movie will feature Autobots and Decepticons fighting on Earth. This time, though, other Transformers will join the battle. The Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons are set to join the battle in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. It's unclear if Megatron, the prominent leader of the Decepticons and the antagonist of all five of Michael Bay's films, will appear or not. Right now, it's also not clear who will be on whose side. The trailer introduces new characters, but the plot and the full conflict have not yet been revealed.

The film will feature a mix of voice acting and live actors since the Transformers will be CGI, but they interact with real people in the real world. Voice actors include Pete Davidson, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Ron Perlman, Cristo Fernandez, Michaela Jae Rodriguez, John DiMaggio, Liza Koshy, and more. Peter Cullen will reprise his iconic role as Optimus Prime. Additionally, Anthony Ramos (Hamilton, In the Heights, A Star is Born) will star as Noah, the film's main protagonist. Dominique Fishback (Swarm) and Luna Lauren Velez join him. The film has more CGI characters in the vast cohort of Transformers than people thus far.

With a few exceptions, the Transformers franchise has been marred by poor critical reception. The franchise has made a lot of movies, and fans love them. However, they've not been well-received by Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, Metacritic, and other critical platforms. Despite that, the cast for the upcoming entry feels good about the movie.

In fact, Fishback revealed in an interview that a shaman blessed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. She said, "We had a shaman come in and bless the film. The shaman came — and butterflies remind me of my grandmother, and [afterwards] a butterfly stayed in the middle of set for 15 minutes. And then I got the butterfly to walk on my finger. We have videos." She also said that she's excited for a fresh tale in this universe, saying, "We've never seen the perspective of a Brooklyn kid meeting Bumblebee or Optimus Prime. I was excited to bring our version, our authenticity, our swag, and cadence and the way we speak, and how we approach things [to the film]."

Anthony Ramos is equally enthusiastic. "I was excited for the new characters to come to life and people to meet them, like Mirage and Rhinox and Cheetor and Optimus Primal," he said in an interview. "And Scourge being this new villain who I think is the biggest villain we've ever seen in any of these movies and now we can actually talk about Unicron. For the fans, like the people that really love Transformers, this means a lot to them — they've been wanting to see these characters, especially Unicron, for years. And then on top of that, you know, you got two kids from the hood, you know what I'm saying? Running around, saving the world, traveling, going from Brooklyn to Peru."

This doesn't always translate to a good project, but the excitement from those involved in making the film does bode well. Ramos knows his Transformers, and Steven Caple Jr. is a capable director. June 9 will ultimately tell whether they've come together for a good movie or not. Either way, it appears poised to make quite a bit of money like its predecessors.

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