Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bumblebee.
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Bumblebee director Travis Knight already has ideas for a sequel. The Transformers franchise has been struggling in recent years, with 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight grossing only $605.4 million at the global box office - and, to Paramount’s surprise, just $130 million domestically. Bumblebee is essentially a soft reboot, an attempt to make a very different kind of Transformers film.
The movie has received critical acclaim, as evidenced by its current Critic Score of 94 percent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, it’s also been released in a highly-competitive December slot; there may not be a Star Wars film this Christmas, but there’s still Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and Mary Poppins. So far, takings haven’t been impressive, but Paramount will be hoping Bumblebee proves to have good legs. Hopefully strong word of mouth will help, and this will indeed set the tone of future Transformers films.
During a recent interview with Cinema Blend, director Travis Knight has admitted he already has ideas for a sequel - and some of them sound pretty surprising. “When I get to the end of one of my movies,” he explained, “I always imagine what’s next for the characters. And so, in my mind, I’ve got all these scenarios and adventures that play out, both with Charlie and with Bee and everyone else. We’ll see if the world wants more. Maybe we’ll explore some of those things.”
It’s an exciting quote, clearly born out of the love Knight has for the film he’s made. Interestingly, at this moment it’s unclear whether or not Bumblebee fits in with the previous Michael Bay movies, or is instead the beginning of a whole new Transformers timeline. There’s a cameo from a young Simmons, the Sector 7 agent who appeared in the Bay films, and at the end Bumblebee takes on a very familiar shape. In fact, Knight even cut a scene featuring Megatron in order to preserve continuity - in the Bay timeline, the Decepticon leader was missing, comatose on Earth. At the same time, though, there are a number of continuity issues and potential plot holes when Bumblebee is set against the Bayformer films; most notably, the post-credits scene establishes an Autobot presence on Earth a full two decades before they should have arrived there. That gives Paramount an incredible amount of flexibility; if they judge Bumblebee to be a success, they can choose to abandon the Bay continuity and start again from here.
Notice that Knight doesn’t just have ideas for Bumblebee and the Autobots, though. While Charlie was hardly a Witwicky-style “Chosen One,” Knight seems to have plans for how she could get involved in future sequels or spinoffs. That’s a smart move; Hailee Steinfeld’s portrayal of the grieving teenager has been universally praised, and the dynamic between her and the titular Bumblebee was the highlight of the film. Assuming Knight can find a natural, organic way to bring her back, her presence should guarantee a similar critical reaction to any sequel.
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Source: Cinema Blend
