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There’s nothing audiences enjoy more than watching a cliffhanger or a quick preview at the end of an already entertaining movie, and those who watched the last movie Transformers: Rise of the Monsters received a little of both. Audience members who lingered in the end credits got a surprise treat: a hint at a possible crossover between Hasbro’s Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises. A lot of them jeered, a few cheered, mostly representative of the range of reactions one might encounter in Hollywood’s repeated attempts at the seemingly easy money grab. The formula is simple: combine two common existing properties and reap the benefits.
But the Transformers – G.I. Joe crossover movie wasn’t meant to be a master plan for an innovative studio as you can see in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) or the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to Brian Davids of The Hollywood Reporter, the idea actually refers to a “four-issue comic book series from 1987 called je joe and transformersAnd it was meant to allow main character Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) to “get a job and take care of his brother’s health.” Besides introducing characters from other Transformers stories, director Steven Caple, Jr. has shown dedication toward developing an established film franchise while getting the kid’s game right.
This leaves fans wondering whether or not this crossover project will work, and that has the potential to go one of two ways. Hopefully, the idea will lead to a vast cinematic universe that rivals the MCU. However, he could also fall flat on his face and never see the second installment.
best case scenario
In terms of most memorable moments in recent film history, Robert Downey Jr.’s appearance as Tony Stark in the 2008 post-credit scene Incredible Hulk It represents one of the first attempts to build a comprehensive cinematic universe. Two B-movie crossover events Aliens vs. Predators (2004) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003) provided a template that the MCU would eventually exploit.
Disney was already experimenting with the idea by creating Disney Channel crossover episodes of popular shows like Hanna MontanaAnd The Suite Life of Zack and CodyAnd Waverly Place WizardsAnd This is very crow. Long story short, other studios are becoming eager to keep up with the success of 2012 The Avengers and the growth of the Disney Industrial Park.
Many have come to replicate the cinematic universe’s business model and achieve various levels of box office success. The DC Extended Universe has been produced Wonder Woman (2017), Aquaman (2018) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) and got a minor reboot from the MCU native James Gunn while introducing the revived DC Universe with 2023 flash.
Warner Brothers boasts another popular universe collaboration with Legendary Pictures titled MonsterVerse, which features Godzilla and King Kong in a series of explosive monster movies. Like the MCU and DCEU, the MonsterVerse has maintained a consistent high performance at the box office, promising more sequels in the near future. Another successful expanded world is New Line Cinema Sorcery The universe that begins with the horror flick 2013 Sorcery.
If the Transformers-GI Joe crossover is to work, it will depend primarily on the previous success of the Transformers live-action series. With seven films released so far, Transformers time and again reaches huge box office numbers because it can easily translate to the international market regardless of its director, star actor, or core story. Hopefully, expanding the popular franchise into other well-known Hasbro properties will invigorate the Transformer universe with a breath of fresh air after desperately searching for a new identity without Michael Bay.
The worst case scenario
As Paramount and Hasbro look optimistically toward examples of success stories, it’s important to remember the few forgotten failures. Some come at the behest of studio leadership or misguided creators obsessed with pursuing a business model or advancing a political agenda rather than creating unique creative opportunities for filmmakers or nurturing the potential of a beloved universe.
In an attempt to emulate the MCU, Universal created the lesser-known Dark Universe that included classic horror characters like Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, Van Helsing, The Mummy, Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde.
Unfortunately for the studio, audiences saw the empty world-building attempts and financial failure of 2017 mummy The restart finished the project before it started. Guillermo del Toro, as reported by Indiewire, expressed that his “only professional regret was turning down Universal’s offer to helm the Dark Universe,” and the lack of sponsorship and coherent vision was the downfall of the unrealized project.
Likewise, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter saw a questionable reboot with 2016 Fantastic beasts and where to find them, written by the controversial JK Rowling herself. While the new series has received three installments, Rowling’s transphobic tweets have marred headlines on the trilogy and overshadowed Johnny Depp’s public court battle with Amber Heard. Despite the huge fandom of the beloved children’s fantasy book series, a slew of off-camera controversy after the three films raised questions about whether they should have been filmed in the first place.
If misled or mishandled, the Transformers – GI Joe crossover risks turning off fans and ultimately failing at the box office. Hasbro has already produced three movies based on G.I. Joe, but the Transformers crossover wasn’t quite as premeditated. The hope is that Caple, Paramount, and Hasbro can reach a creative agreement where the team’s continuity and creative freedom can generate fan excitement and long-term success at the box office. And with the direction the franchise is heading in at the moment, it’s safe to say that they have all the building blocks to build a whole new cinematic universe.
