Optimus in Assassin's Creed

Yep, its been slow in the Transformers movie news front. Nothing to report with the writer's strike still ongoing and Bay probably working on pre-production stuff and determined to keep his secrets.

So here you go to break up the monotony, a little Optimus Prime cameo in Assassin's Creed for the XBox 360. Maybe its not an accidental homage but its too close to the Transformer we all know and love to not be intentional in my opinion, especially since the game takes place in 1191. Not sure what level or location the homage shows up as the site doesn't indicate. (source)

G1 Transformers Available on Joost

Thanks to an email from a PR place (I am guessing), just found out that Joost will have the second season of the original Generation 1 Transformers cartoon available with a new one premiering each week. Good for those that want to take a walk down memory lane but not pay for the privilege as the service is free but requires you download and install a player for the site.

I haven't used the service yet but the wiki article on it and what information I heard here and there is pretty good. I think the site is done in partnership with Viacom (and its many networks), CBS, and others so many different programs are available from decades of television.

The player download is here.
The Transformers portion of the site is here.

Transformers Animated Premiere Date Announced

The Cartoon Network has announced that Transformers Animated will premiere on Wednesday, Dec. 26th at 8:00 PM (ET/PT) according to Comics Continuum.

The premiere "movie" will be "Transform and Roll!":

"Optimus Prime and his small crew of Autobots come into possession of the AllSpark, a powerful Cybertronian artifact that attracts the attention of their long-forgotten enemies the Decepticons and sends them crashing to a strange and distant planet known as Earth.

"Set on Earth in the near future in Detroit, the alien Transformers are thrust into a world populated by humans and automatons. As visitors to Earth, the Transformers -- Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Bulkhead and Rathcet-- work in the human world, interacting with the Œnatives¹ in exciting and humorous ways. Transformers Animaed has been created to showcase the heroic Autobots working together to battle the evil Decepticons and save Earth with kid-relatable plot lines filled with humor, distinctive character personalities, and dynamic action."

GM Feels Some Love For Transformers

According to a survey, paid for by GM one assumes, apparently Transformers helped boost GM's public profile favorably. The Hollywood Reporter said Bumblebee emerged as the film's favorite character followed by Optimus Prime (91%), Shia LaBeouf (83%, Megan Fox (82%), and and the rest at 69%.

To GM though, probably the most important bit was 70%-90% of the respondents indicated they would more likely buy a GM car featured in the movie. "Moviegoers' opinions of the GM vehicles also shot up drastically, with a 144% improvement in their opinions of the Solstice -- which has only been on the market since 2005 -- and a 72% improvement in audience views of the Camaro. Opinions of the Hummer H2 and the GMC Topkick improved by 65% or greater."

From the article, "92% of moviegoers said the Camaro was the right fit for the role of Bumblebee, 80% said the Hummer H2 was a good fit for Ratchet and 76% thought the Solstice and Topkick were the right choice for Jazz and Ironhide. Bernacchi said that regarding automotive integrations in films over the past five years, typically only 46%-62% of moviegoers have rated the vehicles as the right fit for the roles."

However, despite the improved profile for GM due to Transformers, it apparently has not resulted in an increase on sales or web traffic that they can determine. Still, considering how unfavorably American made cars are viewed compared to Japanese, any improvement is a good thing. It was also indicated that GM is hoping to participate in the upcoming sequel. (source)

Transformers DVD Sales Week 3

I skipped last week but here are the DVD sales for Transformers for week 3 after the DVD release. This time the direct competition was Spider-Man, which trounced the competition but didn't come close to Transformers first week sales.

Spider-Man 3 after week 1 sold 2.4 million units for a sales total of $42.4 million. Transformers week 3 sales was 613,732 for sales of $14.1 million. Grand total so far TF is sitting at 7.7 million units sold for sales of $178,259,747.

The 7.7 sold is still less then the 8.3 million advertised but I think the cause is either because the studios guard these number very carefully because of royalties (as demonstrated by the writer's strike) or because the 8.3 million number isn't based on in store sales but number ordered and shipped to retailers. In either case, it gives at least an idea of how TF is doing.

Transformers People Choice Awards Nominations

The People's Choice Awards nominations where announced and Transformers is up in a few categories. The award show will air on CBS on January 8th and is basically a popularity contest to show what stuff the voters liked most in the last year across TV, movies, and music.

Transformers is up for "Favorite Action Movie", and "Favorite Movie." Also Linkin Park is nominated in "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack" for "What I've Done". Did that song even come up during the movie?

To vote, click here.

Bay: Fake Information Leaks Planned

Bay has indicatated that after his experience with Transformers with information getting leaked and just the general ire of fandom that he plans on leaking false information just to screw things up.

From Rotten Tomatoes, "One thing I do know is I know how to screw them up more," said Bay. "We're going to leak a lot of false information all over the place. I now know their game. They're going to get a lot of script treatments that they think are going to be the script. They will never see the script. We've got scripts and treatments written up that we're going to leak. No one's going to know."

Scoopers who currently think they're sitting on a hot one, here's a head's up. "There's one out that's fake right now. There are going to be many others."

Suffice it to say, all the real and fake information will continue to be posted here. As is often the case when it comes to in production movie info, its all "fake" until its officially confirmed anyway.

TFII Shooting Start in June?

In an article about the problems that the current Writer's Strike will cause for studios, Variety let loose with this little bit of info on Transformers production schedule. "DreamWorks/Par's "Transformers 2" is far enough along to proceed with pre-production, location scouting and advance VFX work, but will face serious issues if the strike continues for several months. Michael Bay's megabudget sequel isn't set to start filming until June."

Wow, if true, this is mighty optimistic of the studios when most experts are predicting the strike could last into next year and then in June is when the actors and directors could go on strike. (source)

TF2 Production Designer Hired

The writers strike may be going on but appears that pre-production on Transformers 2 continues with the hiring of Nigel Phelps as production designer. He previousily worked with Bay on The Island and Pearl Harbor. No clue what that title is so a quick lookup on Wikipedia says production designer "refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production Designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the director and producer, they must select the settings and style to visually tell the story."

WGA On Strike

As of 12:01 AM the Writer's Guild of America is on strike until an agreement is reached to get a larger piece of the Internet and DVD sales profits. What this means for Transformers is up in the air. I think the strike will have to go 4 or so months before it might have a serious effect on the intended June 09 TF2 release date. That is mostly going to depend on progress of pre-production vs post-production.

Just as a very rough estimate for TF 1, pre went more or less a year, production went about 4 months and then post was 6 months. So really as long as have a shooting script is ready by next June, the sequel should be fine. It will not give Bay much breathing room, but its doable. All this assumes no actor or directors strike occurs next June.

As far as impact over other forms of entertainment, it varies. Theatrical releases will not be impacted until after Summer '08 since most of the movies for that period are script ready. A side effect though is the script doctors will not be on set so that could lead to more shoddy storytelling then normal, only time will tell.

For TV, the impact will be immediate. The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and multiple nighttime talk shows will go into re-runs for the duration. Current season shows probably have scripts that might take them through the year (in general TV shows are five eps ahead). South Park tends to be done the week its due so its 50/50 on whether there will be a new episode this week and probably none next week. Oddly some shows may even end their seasons early as its rumored that Heroes may call it as season with the end of the "Generations" arc and Heroes: Origins has already been cancelled.

December and January tend to be repeat heavy anyway so that buys the studios a little more time. For mid-season replacements (24, Lost, etc) more episodes are in the can so a delaying their start to February (rather then January) could get them through April. As for any gaps that do form, its probable that the networks will fill it in with reality programming. For example, CBS is apparently considering a spring edition of Big Brother. All in all, after the first week of December, the viewing choices should start getting interesting.

Its not mentioned in news reports, but all this could repeat again in June 08 as the actors and directors agreements expire. I think the WGA made a huge mistake striking now as the studios can hold out fairly easily for six months. The real pinch comes in June when the actors and directors strike which grinds everything to an immediate halt. Whatever concessions the writers get, those groups will demand the same and more. As a result, for the studios, giving into one guild is conceding the same to all 3 guilds. With that future threat looming, its really in the best interest of the studios to make an example of the Writers Guild by holding out as long as possible and giving up as little as possible. If the studio can last longer then the writers, this will help create a stronger bargaining position when dealing with the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild.

So to sum, Writers on strike, impact on Transformers (for now) minimal and your TV viewing starting in December may become repeat heavy. If your not a TV watcher, then all this is pretty irrelevant.

For me, outside looking in, I am rooting for the studios. They are the ones that take on the risk by spending millions on new movies and TV shows so it only makes sense they reap the rewards. The writers, directors, and actors don't take the financial risk, so I don't see why they should get any extra rewards in perpetuity for doing the jobs they are paid very well to do.

Trnasformers: Animated Teaser Clip

Below is a teaser clip for Transformers: Animated that give a little insight on the Transformers and Megatron (Corey Burton). I am just not a fan of this anime, kids style that has taken over cartoons of late. As a result just not that excited about the series. I miss the Batman: Animated Adventure and Justice League days. Based on the clip, with mentions of the "Allspark" and the like, it appears the cartoon is based more on the TF movie universe then the G1 TF universe.

Transformers DVD Still #1

After two weeks, Transformers remains at the top of the DVD sales and rental charts. The sales dropped a minor 14% from the previous week to $8.6 million. I am sure the bean counters are pleased.

As for the first week of sales ending 10/21, The Numbers.com is reporting that Transformers moved 5,089,612 units for sales of $117,010,180. For comparison the number 2 move was Planet Terror which sold 424,474 ($9.7 million). This number is less then reported 8.3 million first week sales but at least its actualy numbers vs a standard press release from the studio that provides no numbers.

Viacom Feeling Transformers Love

Viacom, parent company of Paramount and Dreamworks, has reported an 80% boost in revenue from the previous quarter, most of it credited to the success of Transformers. The profit margin for the film side (ie after payouts and whatnot) was $72 million (seems small for such a huge company). The previous quarter they lost $7.8 million. CEO Philippe Dauman touted the “phenomenal success with our new global franchise ‘Transformers,’ ” which buoyed theatrical revenue, led by Paramount Pictures, to $490 million from $278 million. Hopefully that love and boost will lead to a significant budget increase for the sequels.

Transformers Prequel Animated Comic Online

For those that bought your copy of Transformers from somewhere other then Wal-Mart missed out on Transformers: Beginning which covered how Megatron, Bumblebee and others arrived on Earth. Its uses the comic series, digital animation, and voice over to tell the story. Voice work is supplied by Peter Cullen (Optimus), Frank Welker (Megatron) and Mark Ryan (Bumblebee) and even Kevin Dunn (Sam's dad) among others. Overall not bad at all. Lot better then was expecting to be honest. Nice to hear the orginial voice of Megatron once again in new material. Thanks to Dan for the links.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Transformers HD-DVD Overview

Thanks to Dan for this link to a YouTube post that covers the extra features that the Transformers HD-DVD has over regular DVDs. I especially like the picture in picture but sadly I don't have an LCD or plasma screen so buying HD-DVD right now seems a waste of money. The second video is a reprise of the Grimlock video from the Sector 7 website, also available via the HD-DVD version.