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This article is about the 2007 live action film. For the 1986 animated film, see The Transformers: The Movie.
2007 film
Transformers
International poster
Directed byMichael Bay
Written byRoberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman
John Rogers
Produced bySteven Spielberg
(Executive)
Tom DeSanto
Don Murphy
StarringShia LaBeouf
Megan Fox
Josh Duhamel
Tyrese Gibson
Jon Voight
Voices:
Peter Cullen
Hugo Weaving
CinematographyMitch Amundsen
Music bySteve Jablonsky
Distributed byDreamWorks Pictures
Paramount Pictures
UIP
Release datesAustralia New Zealand PhilippinesJune 28, 2007
United States July 2, 2007
United Kingdom July 27, 2007
Running time144 min
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$147 million

Transformers is a 2007 live action film based on the Transformers franchise, directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. It stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, who has the map to the Allspark, the center of the war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. The film also stars Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight and John Turturro, as well as Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime and Hugo Weaving as the voice of Megatron. Cullen voiced Optimus in the 1980s cartoon, and returned by fan demand.

Producers Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto developed the film, and Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote the script, aiming for a realistic interpretation of the characters. Though not a fan, Bay was convinced by Spielberg to direct, and he created a new intricate design aesthetic for the computer-generated Transformers. Bay used numerous cost-saving measures during production, including support from General Motors and the United States military to keep the budget under $150 million. Armed with an enormous marketing campaign including comics, toys and tie-in deals, Transformers opened in the United States on July 2 2007, and broke the box office record for the highest-grossing opening week for a non-sequel. It received praise for its special effects, but was accused of favoring action over characterization. Two sequels are in development.

Plot

The film begins with the history of Cybertron’s destruction at the hands of Megatron, and his quest to obtain the Allspark. Megatron discovers the Allspark on Earth, but crash-lands in the Arctic Circle, becoming frozen in the ice. Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of explorers stumble upon Megatron’s body in the late 19th century. Megatron’s navigational system is unintentionally activated, and Archibald’s eye glasses are imprinted with the coordinates to the Allspark's location. The secret organizaton of the United States government, Sector 7, discovers the Allspark and builds the Hoover Dam around it to mask the energy signal. The still-frozen Megatron is moved into this facility, and is used to further advance human technology.

In the present day, the rest of the Decepticons — Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Bonecrusher, and Devastator — have already landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles. Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base in Qatar in an effort to use the military database to discover the location of Megatron and the Allspark, but they do not succeed.

The Autonomous Robotic Life Form (shortened to "Autobot") known as Bumblebee is also on Earth, disguised as a Chevrolet Camaro, and looking for Sam Witwicky, the descendant of Captain Archibald Witwicky. As soon as he locates Sam, the two quickly begin to bond as Bumblebee helps Sam try and woo his crush, Mikaela Banes; Sam is unaware of the fact that Bumblebee is an alien, until he witnesses Bumblebee transform and send out a homing signal for the rest of the Autobots. After Blackout’s failure, Frenzy boards Air Force One and discovers that Sam is in possession of a map that will lead the Decepticons to the Allspark. Frenzy and Barricade begin tracking Sam’s location.

Barricade confronts Sam, demanding Archibald's glasses. Bumblebee, who is following Sam, transforms and battles Barricade. Mikaela, who is also following Sam, is caught in the crossfire, and leaves with Sam and Bumblebee to go meet the rest of the Autobots. The Autobots — Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet — land on Earth and take on the forms of several Earth vehicles. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam’s home to retrieve the glasses. However, agents from Sector 7 arrive to take Sam and Mikaela into custody. Bumblebee is also apprehended, against the pleas of Sam who assures the agents - to no avail - that he means them no harm.

Frenzy secretly accompanies the group to the Hoover Dam, and releases Megatron from suspended animation. Locating the Allspark, Frenzy sends out an alert to the rest of the Decepticons. With Megatron released, Sam convinces the Sector 7 agents to release Bumblebee, so that he can get the Allspark to Optimus Prime. The Decepticons chase the Autobots, who now possess the Allspark, into a neighboring city. An ensuing battle causes casualties for both sides, with Sam destroying Megatron and the Allspark when he rams it into Megatron’s chest. The remains of the Decepticons are cast into the Laurentian Abyss. With no other home to go to - Cybertron having been destroyed by Megatron - the Autobots decide to stay on Earth, and Optimus sends out a signal across space in an effort to locate any surviving Autobots. Starscream, one of the Decepticons that survived the battle, leaves Earth.

Cast

Humans

LaBeouf, Fox, Duhamel, Gibson and Anderson were fans of the Transformers. Michael Bay hired LaBeouf as he could improvise many jokes, with a charisma that reminded Bay of the young Tom Hanks. LaBeouf worked out five days a week for three months and gained 25 pounds of muscle to prepare for the role, but realized during shooting that his role required agility rather than strength. Duhamel and Gibson spent three days in boot camp, and Gibson also spent time with combat controller Ray Bollinger to make his dialogue sound natural.

Autobots

Don Murphy decided after discussions with fans on his website that they wanted the surviving voices from the 1980s cartoon, but Michael Bay had them audition first, as he feared their aged voices would be noticeable. Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, was announced to be reprising his role at the July 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. He described reprising the role as easy as "slipping into an old pair of very comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a while", and was grateful to the fans for wanting him back. His vocal performance consisted of much improvisation with Bay and bringing a sense of humor to Prime, as well as portraying his traditional heroism. Paramount held a contest for fans to submit a line of dialogue for Optimus in the film, and the winning entry was "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", but this line, being the character's catchphrase, was in the script from its first draft.

Cullen also read for Ironhide, another character he originally voiced, during his first audition, portraying a conversation between Optimus and Ironhide. Mark Ryan acted as a stand in for the Transformers during filming, giving actors someone to react to, both physically where appropriate and providing dialogue, and ad-libbed lines for many characters during post-production before being cast as Bumblebee. Bumblebee mostly communicates with his radio due to his damaged vocal processor, and the writers considered using dialogue from various Paramount films, including the line "I feel the need for speed!" from Top Gun.

Decepticons

Hugo Weaving, whose voice was used for facial animation tests, signed on to voice Megatron in March 2007. TV series voice actor Frank Welker auditioned, but was rejected as his voice was too light for the beastly depiction of Megatron. Bay also felt it would be wrong to ask Welker to change his classic voice. Welker voiced Megatron in the video game adaptation.

Production

Development

"I think it's going to be something the audience has never seen before. In all the years of movie-making, I don't think the image of a truck transforming into a 20-foot tall robot has ever been captured on screen. I also want to make a film that's a homage to 1980s movies and gets back to the sense of wonder that Hollywood has lost over the years. It will have those Spielberg-ian moments where you have the push-in on the wide-eyed kid and you feel like you're 10 years old even if you're 35."
— Tom DeSanto on why he produced the film

In 2002, Hasbro began developing its properties into films. Producer Don Murphy was looking to adapt G.I. Joe, but when the Iraq War broke out, Hasbro suggested Transformers instead. Tom DeSanto joined the project as he was a big fan of the characters, and the two producers decided to explore why Transformers exist. They met with comic book writer Simon Furman and researched the Generation 1 cartoon and comics, deciding to focus on the Creation Matrix. DeSanto chose a human point-of-view in his treatment to engage the audience, in various storylines resembling a disaster film, as Murphy wanted it to feel realistic. The treatment featured the characters Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave.

After they were rejected by many studio executives who did not grow up with Transformers, DeSanto met with Mike DeLuca in 2004, who arranged a meeting with Steven Spielberg. A fan of the comics and toys, Spielberg signed on as executive producer, and John Rogers was hired as screenwriter in November. His script featured four Transformers on each side, and had the Ark spaceship. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, big fans of the cartoon, were hired in February to start over. Spielberg pitched it to them as about "a boy and his car", which appealed to them as adulthood and responsibility is "the things that a car represents in ." Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were included in all their scripts, but Sam and Mikaela were the focus of the first draft, and the Transformers had no dialogue. This was changed in the next draft, as the writers felt that even if it could look ridiculous, having them not speak would betray the fanbase. Inspired by Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Bumblebee was kept mute to stress his friendship with Sam as going beyond words.

Michael Bay, who had wanted to make a family film, was asked to direct after finishing The Island, but he thought of it as a "stupid toy movie". Nonetheless, Spielberg's premise of "a boy and his car" made him curious, and visiting Hasbro made him gain a new respect for the mythology. In addition, he was enticed by ideas like an 85 mile-per-hour fight scene, and the comedy caused by Transformers interfering with everyday life. The tone was decided as a cross between Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Seven Samurai. Bay also wanted it to feel intense and realistic, and the writers agreed to make everything feel logical, setting aside the previous contradictory continuities in the franchise. Bay admitted not being a fan before allowed him to tell the story naturally, and make it appeal to other non-fans. Orci cut the Ark as he wondered why "aliens who moonlight as vehicles need other vehicles to travel", and Arcee was cut as they had little time to explain robotic gender. Bay expanded the military storylines, considering the first draft "too kiddie", with the soldiers based on G.I. Joe. More Decepticons were added to increase the sense of threat, and the Autobot Prowl was removed as Orci and Kurtzman loved the perverseness of an evil police car.

Design

Ironhide courtesy of General Motors at the 2007 Detroit River Walk Festival

Designs began in June 2005, with Hasbro heavily collaborating on the live action interpretations of their characters. In keeping with Michael Bay's desire to make Transformers realistic, the robots were designed more intricately to look more three-dimensional, as well as reflect their alien origins. Morphing in transformations was restricted, unlike the cartoon or comic books, so every character stays the same size, which explains their choice of Earth forms. Optimus Prime's original cab over truck form was rejected as it would make him only 23 feet tall, so Bay decided to use the Peterbilt, the largest truck avaliable. Bay also added flame artwork to make Prime distinctive, and gave him a mouth to emote more. Don Murphy wanted to retain Bumblebee's Volkswagen Beetle form, but Bay rejected it to avoid comparisons with Herbie the Love Bug, and chose the Chevrolet Camaro instead, which he described as having a friendly quality. The other Autobots also became GM-owned vehicles in a product placement deal that saved $3 million, though Bay hoped they would have supplied a bigger car than the Pontiac Solstice for Jazz.

In contrast to Optimus' faithful design, Megatron's alternate mode was changed from a Walther P38 pistol to an alien jet to avoid morphing, while his face was made more hideous and menacing. The numerous animatic tests conducted also made Bay realize Starscream would require bird-like legs to perform his feats throughout the story. Bay admitted most of the Decepticons had their appearances chosen before their characterization as Hasbro needed to get started on the toys. Blackout was being considered as Soundwave, but Hasbro wanted to have a music player for the character. Don Murphy felt this role belittled Soundwave, and the writers concurred the character in the script barely resembled the original. They renamed him Soundbyte, and finally Frenzy, one of Soundwave's minions. The official names were confirmed in August 2006, although Bay himself was not fully aware of these official names, and this led to Brawl being referred to as Devastator, his on-set name. During post-production, fans expressed concern over Megatron's head design, so a last-minute tweak was done to satisfy them.

Filming

To save money, Michael Bay cut his fee by 30%, chose to shoot in the United States with a crew he was familiar with, doing more camera set-ups per day than usual for an eighty-three day shooting schedule. He practically made the film in computer animatics as a close guide for the five editors during the speedy shoot. He had the support of the United States military, who supplied aircraft and vehicles for the alternate modes of the Decepticons, as well as F-117’s, C-130 cargo planes, the C-17, and two CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, out of three in the United States Air Force inventory at that time. Such co-operation with the military led Transformers to be the first film shot at The Pentagon since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Director Michael Bay filming at Holloman Air Force Base.

A pre-shoot took place on April 19 2006, before principal photography began on April 22 at Holloman Air Force Base. The Holloman shoot also included White Sands Missile Range. On June 9, filming was onsite at the Hoover Dam, making them the first film crew to shoot there since 9/11. The crew then based themselves at Hughes Aircraft in Playa Vista, including six weekends of filming the climactic battle in Los Angeles. Production wrapped on September 24, although second unit shooting continued in the Arctic and Detroit, where it finally finished on October 3.

Effects

Work on the film animatics began in April 2005, with Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg throwing in many ideas for action sequences. Bay preferred to shoot his fourteen action sequences on set to keep the budget under $150 million. Three versions of each car were created by General Motors in anticipation that some of them would crash, and stunt drivers wore black balaclavas to blend in with the darkened interiors, so as to make the vehicles appear sentient. Bay used his animatics to help the actors envision the Transformers, as well as a 17 foot tall Bumblebee model by FXPerts, a Frenzy puppet by KNB, Scorponok's damaged tail, Optimus' head with motion capture points, and Megatron's frozen legs. The props amount to 12 out of 630 effects shots.

Industrial Light & Magic began a six-month process of creating transformations in the computer in 2005, looking at every inch of the vehicles and making sure none of the car pieces conflicted during the simulations. The transformers were designed to follow the laws of physics, but it did not look exciting enough and was changed to be more fluid. Due to the intricate designs of the Transformers, even the simplest notion of turning a wrist requires seventeen visible pieces, while each of Ironhide's guns is made of ten thousand parts. Such detail required thirty-eight hours to render each frame of animation, which meant ILM had to increase their processing facilities. Each rendered piece had to look like real metal, shiny or dull. Photographs were taken of each set and had a lighting environment produced within a computer so the robots would look like they were convincingly moving there.

Numerous simulations were programmed into the robots, so the animators could just focus on animating the particular areas needed for a convincing performance. Ultimately, the complex mechanics make the characters feel dynamic and quick like a human, rather than a lumbering beast, with even the eyes modeled to resemble human eye movement. Bay instructed the animators at ILM to look at martial arts films to make the fights look graceful, and they also looked to actor Liam Neeson's performances to inspire Optimus Prime's mannerisms. Bumblebee's behaviour was based on Michael J. Fox's performance in Back to the Future. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman observed unexpected quirks in ILM's animation, and added new dialogue and re-edited scenes to adjust it to the robots' performances. Visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said the scene he was most proud of was the Autobots hiding from Sam's parents, as "there is a lot of humor and very dramatic night time lighting." ILM created the 430 shots of the thirteen primary robots, while Digital Domain and The Asylum created minor shots, including a vending machine mutated by the Allspark.

Music

See also: Transformers: The Album

Composer Steve Jablonsky, who collaborated with Bay on The Island, scored music for the teaser trailer long before actual work on the film. Scoring took place in April 2007 at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City. The score comprised six major themes over 90 minutes of score, including the teaser music. Tom DeSanto wanted to work in an orchestral version of the TV series song, but he and Bay never spoke with each other much. Mute Math performed a cover version instead. The band were childhood fans of Transformers, and were approached as their style suited the sound of the robots in the film. It only appears on the album.

Marketing

File:Tfbuilding.jpg
A building in Hollywood, CA, draped in canvas promoting the film
Further information: Transformers: The Movie Prequel, Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday, and Transformers: The Game

The first teaser trailer was released on the Internet on June 29 2006, depicting a Transformer attacking the Beagle 2 mission. A second trailer was released on December 20, breaking Spider-Man 3's record for the number of internet hits. A third trailer was released online on Yahoo's movie website on May 17 2007. Another trailer was attached with Shrek the Third. Bay originally intended that " never really get a good look at the robots until the release", but by the third trailer he had abandoned this idea. The Sector 7 viral marketing web site featured several videos recording supposed evidence of Transformers on Earth. These featured cameos by Generation 1 Transformers, including Grimlock destroying a construction site, and a security video showing a robot resembling Generation 1 Bumblebee transforming in a parking garage.

Hasbro made deals with 200 companies across 70 countries to promote the film. Their toy line for the film was created over two months over late 2005/early 2006, collaborating heavily with the filmmakers. A pair of preview toys, Protoform Optimus Prime and Starscream, were released in the U.S.A. on May 1 2007, before the first wave of figures were released on June 2. Characters that do not appear in the film are also featured in the film's style, including Air Raid, Arcee, Clocker, Elita One, Hardtop, Longarm, Signal Flare, Skyblast, Strongarm, Swindle and Wreckage. The toys feature "Automorph Technology" in which moving parts of the toy allow other parts to shift automatically. Before the film's U.S. release, General Motors put the vehicles used for Bumblebee, Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchet on display at the Detroit River Walk Festival. Michael Bay was also highly involved in the film's promotion, directing tie-in commercials for GM, Burger King and PepsiCo. Promotion also involved eBay, and various props from the film, including the 1979 Chevrolet Camaro used for Bumblebee and the Allspark, were put up for charity.

Release

Promotional display for the movie at BotCon 2006

Initially, fans were divided over the film due to the radical redesigns of many characters. Michael Bay even received death threats. Nonetheless, the film began to draw in many new fans to the franchise. Before its release, Transformers was voted "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. The 2007 BotCon saw its attendance rise from 2,200 to nearly 8,000.

Transformers had its worldwide premiere at Sydney on June 12, 2007. It premiered at Sitges during the annual Film Festival on June 20, 2007 and in Taormina the following day. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 27 via digital satellite feed, and at Rhode Island on June 28. The Rhode Island premiere was a freely available event offering fans to buy tickets for $75 to benefit four charities: the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Autism Project of Rhode Island, the Adoption Rhode Island, and the Hasbro Children's Hospital.

Box office performance

The film was released in ten overseas markets on June 28 2007, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines. Transformers made $29.5 million in its first weekend, topping the box office in ten countries while also earning the biggest four-day opening in Singapore yet, accumulating $1.7 million there. The film was released in the United States and Canada on July 3, with 8pm preview screenings on July 2. The previews earned $8.8 million, and in its first day of general release it grossed $27.4 million, a record for Tuesday box office attendance, and the twentieth biggest opening day. It broke Spider-Man 2's record for the biggest July 4 gross, making $29 million.

In its first weekend, Transformers grossed $70.5 million, amounting to a $155.4 million opening week, giving it the record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel. The opening domestic gross was 50% more than what Paramount Pictures expected, with one executive attributing it to word of mouth telling "the parents that it's OK to take the kids." A Cinemascope poll indicated the film was most popular with children and parents, including older women, and attracted many African American and Latino viewers. The film has made $155.4 million domestically, and grossed $252.1 million overall. The film will be released in the United Kingdom on July 27.

Critical reception

Transformers was met with mixed reviews from film critics, receiving a "rotten" rating of only 57% favorable reviews out of 152 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and a Metacritic score of 61 out of 100 (generally favorable) from 33 reviews. IGN's Todd Gilchrist found it Michael Bay's best film to date, and "one of the few instances where it's OK to enjoy something for being smart and dumb at the same time, mostly because it's undeniably also a whole lot of fun." The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt liked "how a teen plot line gets tied in to the end of the world", while The Advertiser's Sean Fewster found the visual effects so seamless that "you may come to believe the studio somehow engineered artifical intelligence". The Denver Post's Lisa Kennedy praised the depiction of the robots as having "a believably rendered scale and intimacy." and ABC presenter Margaret Pomeranz was surprised "that a complete newcomer to the Transformers phenomenon like myself became involved in the fate of these mega-machines", Roger Ebert found the robots "delightful creatures... their movements are ingenious."

There was division over the script. Ain't It Cool News's Drew McWeeny also felt most of the cast grounded the story, and that "it’s certainly the best sci-fi action movie in a while. It’s outrageous, but it has a real sense of wonder, one of the things that’s missing from so much of the big CGI lightshows released these days." Author Peter David found it ludricrous fun, and that "Bay wisely decides to go with the silliness rather than fight it... manages to hold on to his audience's suspension of disbelief long enough for us to segue into some truly spectacular battle scenes." Dark Horizons's Garth Franklins liked its simplicity because "Bay and scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci understand that people are simply here to see giant robots thrash the hell out of both each other and metropolitan surroundings" Empire's Ian Nathan praised Shia LaBeouf as "a smart, natural comedian, levels the bluntness of this toy story with an ironic bluster."

Newsarama's Ryan McLelland enjoyed the action but admitted "when they try to move along the movie with the human characters you just say to yourself, 'Where’s Optimus Prime? Where’s Starscream? Let’s get some big honkin’ robots!'" Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles found the storyelling a conflict between Bay and Steven Spielberg's styles, with the military storylines distracting from Sam. Daily Herald's Matt Arado was highly critical that "the Transformers little more than supporting players", and Los Angeles Times's Kenneth Turan found the humans "oddly lifeless, doing little besides marking time until those big toys fill the screen." James Berardinelli hated the film as he did not connect with the characters in-between the action, which he found tedious, while Comingsoon.net's Joshua Stames felt the Transformers were "completely believable, right up to the moment they open their mouths to talk, when they revert to bad cartoon characters." CNN's Tom Charity questioned the idea of a film based on a toy, and felt it would "buzz its youthful demographic... but leave the rest of us wondering if Hollywood could possibly aim lower."

Sequels

On May 30 2007, Dreamworks greenlit two sequels to Transformers, and Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and Peter Cullen signed on to return. Producer Tom DeSanto has envisioned a storyline introducing the Dinobots, the Constructicons, and Soundwave. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman may not return, as "Star Trek... is taking up kind of all of our time." Michael Bay has not signed on, "trying to keep some leverage for the negotiations", but already has ideas, including an aircraft carrier character.

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  46. "Transformers Movie Soundbyte (Frenzy) CGI Design Images First Look". TFW2005. 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-02-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  55. "New Pictures of Frozen Transformers Movie Megatron from the Movie Set". TFW2005. 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-02-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  66. Bay, Michael (2007-01-18). "Trailer note by Michael Bay". Shoot for the Edit. Retrieved 2007-01-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  67. Ryan Parsons (2007-05-05). "Transformers Trailer BEFORE Pirates!". CanMag. Retrieved 2007-05-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  75. "BumbleBee and Other Movie Props Are Now on e-bay!". Seibertron. 2007-07-08. Retrieved 2007-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  78. MTV (2007-06-04). "The MTV Movie Awards Winners!". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved 2007-06-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  79. Patrick Kolan (2007-06-13). "Transformers World Premiere in Sydney". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  80. Dave McNary (2007-05-30). "'Transformers' to bow at LA Film Fest". Variety. Retrieved 2007-05-31. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  83. Dave McNary (2007-07-01). "'Shrek' tops overseas box office, 'Transformers' int'l release brings in $34.7 mil". Variety. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  85. Gregg Kilday (2007-07-05). "'Transformers' hauls in $27.45 mil Tuesday". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-07-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  98. Drew McWeeny (2007-07-02). "Moriarty Makes First Contact With TRANSFORMERS! The Movie, The Comics, The Books & More!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  104. Matt Arado (2007-07-02). "'Transformers' lacks substance". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  105. Kenneth Turan (2007-07-02). "'Transformers' heavy on plot". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  109. Dave West (2007-05-30). "Two 'Transformers' sequels in pipeline". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2007-06-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  110. Rebecca Murray. "Shia LeBeouf interview - Transformers the Movie and Michael Bay". About. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
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  112. Patrick Kolan (2007-06-13). "Transformers Roundtable with Michael Bay". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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