New Bumblebee featurette speaks on a return to the robot’s Gen 1 designs

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Paramount Pictures has released a new featurette for BUMBLEBEE, the upcoming TRANSFORMERS spinoff from director Travis Knight (KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS). The footage begins with Knight harkening back to his early '80s childhood, a time when Hasbro ruled toy store shelves with their diverse line of Transformers action figures. As the featurette plays on, Knight remarks that the Transformers animated series also contributed to his love of the robots in disguise. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Knight's BUMBLEBEE is meant to serve as a soft reboot for the series, and that his team will be featuring many of the franchise's Gen 1 designs for its cast of robot characters.

As a montage of action-packed scenes from the upcoming spinoff explode onto the screen, BUMBLEBEE stars Hailee Steinfeld (TRUE GRIT, ENDER'S GAME) and John Cena (TRAINWRECK, FERDINAND) also share their thoughts about what a thrill it is to be on the ground floor of such a monumental cinematic relaunch. In the video, Cena explains that "It's great that it's headed back to the beginning, and set in the time period where I first fell in love with Transformers."

Here's the official log-line for BUMBLEBEE:

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.

Starring alongside Steinfeld and Cena in the toys-to-life reboot are Justin Theroux (AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN) as Dropkick, and Angela Bassett (STRANGE DAYS, CONTACT) as Shatter. Meanwhile, penning the screenplay for the latest installment of the TRANSFORMERS cinematic series is UNFORGETTABLE and BATGIRL scribe Christina Hodson.

Personally, I've been excited for this film from the moment I'd learned that Travis Knight was placed at the helm. For the past several years, Knight has served as the CEO of Laika Entertainment, the studio behind such stop-motion animated masterpieces as CORALINE, PARANORMAN,THE BOXTROLLS, and of course, KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS. In my humble opinion, Knight feels like the perfect creative to get the Transformers franchise back on the road to success, as the man has clearly demonstrated, time and again, that he values a balance between a profound display of heart in addition to plenty of pulse-pounding action. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

BUMBLEBEE will buzz into theaters on December 21st.