Summary
Paramount has officially announced a crossover movie bringing theTransformersandG.I. Joefranchises together – and it’s a more exciting prospect for one of those franchises than the other. The ending ofTransformers: Rise of the Beaststeased a connection between the two franchises when Anthony Ramos’ Noah Diaz was invited to interview for a job at a secret government organization that turned out to be G.I. Joe. Now, the studio is officially working on a crossover event that will combine the two beloved Hasbro franchises for a cinematic extravaganza.
While this crossover is a tantalizing prospect for fans of both franchises, it’s more exciting for theG.I. Joefranchise than theTransformersfranchise. It’s not that it’s bad forTransformers; it’s just thatit’s better news forG.I. Joe.Transformershas been more or less successful, give or take a few wobbles, throughout its entire two-decade run on the big screen. But theG.I. Joefranchise was pretty much dead on arrival. It was never a huge blockbuster property, and its last movie completely bombed.G.I. Joecould rely on the success ofTransformersto help reboot the franchise.
The Transformers Movie Franchise Has Been Consistently Successful
Transformers hasn’t suffered any major failures
Since its first live-action movie hit theaters in 2007,Transformershas been a bona fide blockbuster franchise.Its movies have all been huge box office hits, with a couple of them even breaking the billion-dollar barrier. Every installment untilBumblebeevaulted over the half-billion mark and evenBumblebee, a smaller-scale spin-off starring just one of the fan-favorite Autobots, came close. EvenRise of the Beasts, which underperformed relative to its budget and the precedent set by the previous movies, still made $439 million at the worldwide box office (viaBox Office Mojo).
Apart fromBumblebee, which was surprisingly well-received,everyTransformersmoviehas been met with mixed to negative reviews. But that hasn’t stopped audiences from turning out in droves to watch the robot-on-robot action. Even theTransformersmovies that have been slated by critics have done well at the box office. This is largely because audiences who are looking to see giant robots fight each other don’t really care if the story has nuanced themes, or if the cinematography is well-composed; they just want to see giant robots fighting each other.
Chris Hemsworth is in talks to star in theTransformers/G.I. Joecrossover movie.
The G.I. Joe Franchise Has Struggled To Get A Movie Franchise Going
Even the well-received G.I. Joe movies were lukewarm
TheG.I. Joefranchise has never been a veritable blockbuster property.G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraandG.I. Joe: Retaliationboth performed well enough at the box office to warrant the studio continuing to explore the I.P., but neither of them were massive hits that demonstrated a massive audience demand for moreG.I. Joestories. This was further reinforced by the all-out critical and commercial failure of the series’ first spin-off,Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.Snake Eyeslost a lot of moneyfor Paramount and was universally panned by critics.
Part of the reason forTransformers’ success overG.I. Joeis that the former offers something that audiences can’t find anywhere else, while the latter peddles in a pretty familiar genre. High-octane military action is nothing new – the kind of militaristic spectacle inG.I. Joemovies can also be seen in everything fromTop Gunto Michael Bay movies – sotheG.I. Joefilms haven’t exactly set the world on fire.Transformers, on the other hand, offers the uniquely thrilling visuals of giant robots beating each other up and smashing through skyscrapers.
The Transformers Crossover Could Help Successfully Reboot The G.I. Joe Franchise
Transformers could give G.I. Joe a cinematic shot in the arm
The upcomingcrossover between theTransformersandG.I. Joefranchisesis Paramount’s best chance to get theG.I. Joefranchise back on track. The biggest problem with the previousG.I. Joefilms is that they haven’t given audiences something they can’t find anywhere else, like theTransformersmovies have with their towering alien robots at war with each other. Butby bringing the U.S.P. of theTransformersfranchise – the giant rock-‘em-sock-‘em robots – into the nextG.I. Joefilm, it’ll finally offer something unique.
The giant robots of theTransformersfranchise will bring an extra degree of spectacle to the militaristic action of theG.I. Joefranchise. The crossover can establish a shared cinematic universe to rival Marvel Studios’ interconnected franchise. A world with a secret military organization and two warring races of alien robots has limitless potential for future storylines. Maybe the upcomingTransformers/G.I. Joecrossover movie is just the beginning ofG.I. Joe’s big-screen comeback.
Source:Box Office Mojo
Transformers
Transformers is a multimedia franchise consisting of movies, TV Shows, video games, and comics. The franchise centers on a race of humanoid robots called the autobots who must protect Earth from the Decepticons. Some of the most popular characters include Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. In 2007, the first live-action movie in the franchise was released starring Shia Labeouf.
