Transformers: Dark of the Moon | |
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The poster depicts of a Transformer named Optimus Prime, standing with his blade on his left arm, and his blaster on his right arm, with a young couple standing below the Transformer, and standing in front of a crashlanded Decepticon fighter. The characters appear to be in the war-torn city of Chicago, with Decepticon battleships surrounding and guarding the city. The film title and credits are on the bottom of the poster. | |
Directed by | Michael Bay |
Written by | Ehren Kruger |
Produced by | Don Murphy Tom DeSanto Lorenzo di Bonaventura Ian Bryce |
Starring | Shia LaBeouf Josh Duhamel John Turturro Tyrese Gibson Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Patrick Dempsey Kevin Dunn Julie White John Malkovich Frances McDormand |
Cinematography | Amir Mokri |
Edited by | Roger Barton William Goldenberg Joel Negron |
Music by | Steve Jablonsky |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates | [2][3] |
Running time | 154 minutes[4] |
Country | Template:Film US |
Language | English |
Budget | $195 million[5][6] |
Box office | $1,088,688,923[6] |
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction-action film based on the Transformers toy line. It is the third installment of the live-action Transformers film series, being the sequel to Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, the film was released on June 29, 2011, in both, 2D and 3D formats, including IMAX 3D, and featured Dolby Surround 7.1 sound. Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro have reprised their starring roles, with Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving returning as the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron. English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley replaces Megan Fox as the lead female character, and the cast saw the additions of Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.
The script was written by Ehren Kruger, who collaborated in the writing of the second film. The film's story is set three years after the events of the last film. As the Autobots continue to work for the NEST military force, they discover a hidden alien technology in possession of humans, which is the fuel cell for a crash landed ship, which was found by the Apollo 11 in the Moon. As the Autobots go to the Moon to the find the crash landed ship called the Ark, they unveil a Decepticon plan to enslave humanity in order to save the home planet of the Transformers, Cybertron. Bay has stated this would be his last installment in the series. Dark of the Moon was shot with both regular 35mm film cameras and specially developed 3D cameras, with filming locations including Indiana, Washington, D.C., Moscow, Florida and Chicago. The visual effects involved more complex robots which took longer to render due to the film being released in 3D.
In May 2011, it was announced that Paramount Pictures bumped Transformers: Dark of the Moon's release date of July 1, 2011, to two days earlier, June 29, 2011, in order to receive an early response to footage. The film was then released one day earlier, June 28, 2011 in selected 3D and IMAX theatres, nationwide. Dark of the Moon has grossed $1.088 billion worldwide, being the 10th film to cross the $1 billion mark, the second highest grossing film of 2011 (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2), and the fifth highest-grossing film of all-time—in unadjusted dollars. Critical reception was mixed to negative, praising the visuals but criticizing the writing and acting.
Plot
In 1961, The Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, crash lands on the far side of Earth's Moon. The crash is detected on Earth by NASA, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the craft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon to explore the craft.
In the present, the Autobots assist the United States military in preventing conflicts around the globe. During a mission to Chernobyl, to investigate suspected alien technology, Optimus Prime finds a fuel cell from the Ark, discovering it had survived its journey from Cybertron. The Autobots are attacked by Shockwave who manages to escape. After learning of the top-secret mission to the Moon, the Autobots travel there to explore the Ark. They discover a comatose Sentinel Prime – Optimus' predecessor as leader of the Autobots – and his creation, the Pillars, a means of establishing a Space Bridge between two points to teleport matter. After returning to Earth, Optimus uses the energy of his Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime.
Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is frustrated that he is unable to work with the Autobots and failing to find a job. He also becomes envious of the close relationship between his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, and her boss Dylan Gould. After finding work, Sam is provided information by his eccentric co-worker Jerry Wang about the Ark, before Jerry is assassinated by Laserbeak – a condor-like Decepticon. Sam contacts the now-independently wealthy Seymour Simmons, and together they realize that Megatron and the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Russian space missions to the Ark. They locate two surviving Russian cosmonauts, who reveal satellite photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon. Sam realizes that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Autobots mission and intentionally left Sentinel and five Pillars behind to lure the Autobots into a trap – Sentinel being the key to activating the Pillars and the Decepticons lacking the means to revive him. The Autobots rush to return Sentinel to their base for protection but Sentinel betrays them and kills Ironhide, revealing he had made a deal with Megatron to ensure the survival of the Cybertronian race.
Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth, and Carly is captured by Gould, who is revealed to be in the service of the Decepticons. The Autobots are exiled from Earth at the demand of the Decepticons to avoid war but, as their ship leaves Earth, it is destroyed by Starscream, seemingly killing the Autobots. The Decepticons, led by Megatron and Sentinel, seize Chicago as their agents place Pillars around the world. Gould reveals to Carly that the Decepticons plan to transport their homeworld of Cybertron to the Milky Way, then to enslave Humanity and use the resources of the Earth to rebuild their world. Sam teams with Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly, but they are nearly killed by Decepticon forces before the Autobots intervene; revealing they concealed themselves during the launch of their ship to convince the Decepticons they were destroyed.
Working together, the Autobots and Human soldiers manage to rescue Carly and destroy Soundwave, Barricade, Starscream and Shockwave, with Optimus using Shockwave's arm-cannon to blast the Control Pillar, disabling the Space Bridge. Sam confronts Gould as he reactivates the Control Pillar. After a brief fistfight, Sam knocks Gould into the Pillar, electrocuting him. Bumblebee and Ratchet arrive and destroy the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Optimus and Sentinel fight while Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced as leader of the Decepticons by Sentinel. Sentinel severs Optimus's right arm and prepares to execute him when Megatron intervenes, incapacitating Sentinel. Optimus attacks Megatron, decapitating and killing him. Sentinel pleads for his life but Optimus executes him for betraying his own principles. With the Decepticons defeated, Carly and Sam are reunited and the Autobots accept that with Cybertron gone, Earth is now their home.
Cast
- Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, the film's main protagonist, and a recent college graduate, who is once again tied to the fate of Earth's survival. LaBeouf stated that this would be his last film in the series, he also concludes that the director will not return for the fourth installment.[7]
- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer, the film's supporting protagonist, and girlfriend of Sam. Originally, Megan Fox was to reprise the role of Sam's love interest, but after Fox compared Bay's work ethics to Adolf Hitler, Spielberg insisted to fire her.[8]
- Tyrese Gibson as USAF Chief Robert Epps, former NEST major, who now works at a space shuttle.
- Josh Duhamel as U.S. Army Lt. Colonel William Lennox, the captain of the classified strike team NEST, an international taskforce battling Decepticons with the Autobots.
- John Turturro as Seymour Simmons, a former agent of the terminated Sector 7 unit, who is now a professional writer.
- Patrick Dempsey as Dylan Gould, a rich car collector and boss of Carly Spencer. Originally, he was initially cast to play as Fox's character, Mikaela Banes' boss, but with Fox fired, he is now the boss of Rosie's character, Carly. Dempsey described his role as "darker" than others and "significant to the plot".[9]
- Kevin Dunn as Ron Witwicky, the father of Sam.
- Julie White as Judy Witwicky, the mother of Sam.
- John Malkovich as Bruce Brazos, Sam's employer and boss at Accureta Systems. Makovich explains: "I play a guy called Bruce Brazos, who's just a loudmouth, kind of business man who's Shia's character's boss. Who's just a jerk, and a kind of a loud one. But a fun character. Nice. It was fun. Very, very enjoyable, just with Shia, Rosie a little bit, and with John Turturro. So, for me, it was a blast."[10]
- Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing, the Director of National Intelligence.
- Lester Speight as "Hardcore" Eddie, a former member of NEST.
- Alan Tudyk as Dutch, Agent Simmons' personal assistant.
- Ken Jeong as Jerry "Deep" Wang, a paranoid software programmer at Sam's work. "Yeah, it's a small role in Transformers but yeah. I had an out of body experience working on that one because I just couldn't believe I was there. Still, that was not a thing where oh, I'm going to be a part of a blockbuster franchise like Transformers 3 or even now Hangover 2 for that matter. So I can't believe I'm a part of these franchises in any way. It was amazing. Michael Bay is brilliant and it'll blow your mind." Jeong describes his role.[11]
- Glenn Morshower as General Morshower, leader of NEST, who communicates with the squad in the Pentagon.
- Buzz Aldrin as Himself, one of the two astronauts to explore the crash landed ship.
- Bill O'Reilly as Himself, a political commentator, who interviews Agent Simmons through his television program.
- Elya Baskin as Cosmonaut Dimitri, one of the two surviving Russian cosmonauts.
Voice actors
- Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, and keeper of the Matrix of Leadership. According to Industrial Light & Magic, Optimus has just 10,108 parts in terms of his computer-generated character.[12]
- Frank Welker as Shockwave, an emotionless but fierce Decepticon, Barricade, a Decepticon that transforms into a police car, and Soundwave, the Decepticons' communication officer.
- Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime's predecessor as the leader of the Autobots.
- Hugo Weaving as Megatron, leader of the Decepticons.
- Tom Kenny as Wheelie, former Decepticon drone.
- Reno Wilson as Brains, Wheelie's sidekick, and former Decepticon drone.
- Charlie Adler as Starscream, Megatron's second in command.
- Jess Harnell as Ironhide, the Autobots' cantankerous weapons specialist.
- Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, the Autobots' medical officer.
- James Remar as Sideswipe, a silver Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept.
- Francesco Quinn as Dino/Mirage, an Autobot Spy who transforms into a red Ferrari 458 Italia.
- George Coe as Que/Wheeljack, an Autobot scientist that invents gadgets, equipment, and weapons.
- John DiMaggio as Target/Leadfoot, one of the three Wreckers. He transforms into a Juan Pablo Montoya #42 Target car.
- Ron Bottitta as Amp/Roadbuster, one of the three Wreckers. He transforms into a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. #88 AMP Energy/National Guard car.
- Keith Szarabajka as Laserbeak, a condor-like Decepticon.
- Greg Berg as Igor, a deformed Decepticon.
Production
Development
"You just learn a lot more about the hierarchy, and there's more about the history of what they had in Cybertron. Leonard Nimoy plays a great role. Like I said, he married Susan Bay. I was always scared to ask him."
—Michael Bay, on developing Sentinel Prime's character.[13]
As a preemptive measure, Michael Lucchi, and Paramount Pictures announced on March 16, 2009, a July 1, 2011 release date in IMAX 3-D for another Transformers film before completion of Revenge of the Fallen. Director Michael Bay responded, "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3—they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots."[14] Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who had worked on the two previous Transformers, declined to return for the third film, with Kurtzman declaring that "the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we’d given it a lot and didn’t have an insight for where to go with it next".[15] Revenge of the Fallen's co-writer Ehren Kruger became the sole screenwriter in Dark of the Moon. Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl.[16]
On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that Transformers: Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1, 2011, rather than 2012.[17] Due to the revived interest in 3-D technology brought in by the success of Avatar,[18] talks between Paramount, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D. Testing has been performed in bringing the technology into Bay's work.[19] Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his "aggressive style" of filmmaking, but he got convinced after talks with Avatar director James Cameron,[20] who even offered the technical crew from that film. Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3D "You gotta look at it as a toy, it's another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience."[21] Bay was reluctant to film with 3-D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he did not want to implement the technology in post production either since he was not pleased with the results.[22] In addition to using the 3D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team,[23][21] Bay spent nine months along with the team developing a more portable 3D camera that could be brought into location.[20]
According to various published sources, Megan Fox's absence from the film was due to Bay ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing him and his work ethics to Adolf Hitler,[8][24] although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise.[25] Bay later revealed that Fox's comments particularly angered executive producer Steven Spielberg, which affected Bay's decision to remove her.[26] "I wasn't hurt," Bay stated, "because I know that's just Megan. Megan loves to get a response. And she does it in kind of the wrong way. I'm sorry, Megan. I'm sorry I made you work twelve hours. I'm sorry that I'm making you show up on time. Movies are not always warm and fuzzy."[26] With Fox not reprising her role, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was chosen to play Sam's new love interest. Ramón Rodríguez was initially planned to be in the film, in a role bigger than the one he had in Revenge of the Fallen, but he was dropped during early production.[27]
In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray version of the previous film Revenge of the Fallen, Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of the Fallen, but instead deeper into the mythology, give it more character development, and make it darker and more emotional.[28] Unicron is briefly shown in a secret Transformers 3 preview feature in the Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray disc. Ultimately, the producers decided to forgo a plot involving the planet eating transformer, and no further comments are ever made on the subject.[28] Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010.[29] On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be finished.[30]
Filming
Principal photography began on April 7, 2010 in Northwest Indiana, specifically around Gary, which portrayed Ukraine, and Los Angeles.[31][32] Filming started in May 18, 2010, with shooting locations including Chicago, Florida, and Moscow.[33][34] The first six weeks took place in Los Angeles, locations included Sherman Oaks, Fourth Avenue and 5. Main. The next four weeks were spent in Chicago. Locations filmed in Chicago included LaSalle Street, Michigan Avenue, Bacino's of Lincoln Park at 2204 North Lincoln Avenue and around the Willis Tower.[35] The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work.[36] Filming in Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until 1 September.[37] In late September the production moved to Florida, just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS-133.[38]
While filming in Washington, the crew shot on the National Mall, Bay stated that there would be a car race on the location. Two further locations announced were the Milwaukee Art Museum and the former Tower Automotive complex on Milwaukee's north side, currently under redevelopment for mixed use as well as the city's equipment yard. Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago.[39] On September 23, filming was done at the former city hall in Detroit, MI. On October 16, work was done at the Johnson Space Center in Texas with intent to shoot a scene set in the late 1960s utilizing extras with period fashion and hairstyles.[40] One day of shooting was also done at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.[41] Other planned filming locations included Africa, Moscow, and China.[42] Less than half of the film was shot in 3-D,[43] using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras,[44] while other footage was either computer generated or shot in the anamorphic format on 35mm film and converted into 3D in post production.[45] 35mm film was used for scenes filmed in slow motion, and scenes which required higher image quality than the HD digital 3D cameras could provide, such as closeups of faces or shots of the sky.[45] 35mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3D cameras proved to be too heavy, or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust.[45] Filming was officially completed on November 9, 2010.[46]
As with the 2007 film, in which Bay recycled footage from his earlier film Pearl Harbor,[47] Dark of the Moon has been found to contain footage from another film by Bay, The Island.[48] Dark of the Moon cost a reported $195 million to produce, with the cost of the 3D filming accounting for $30 million of the budget.[5]
Accidents
Filming was temporarily delayed on September 2, 2010, in Hammond, Indiana, when an extra was seriously injured during a stunt. The accident happened when a steel cable snapped from a car being towed, owing to a failed weld, hitting the extra's car and damaging her skull. The extra, identified as Gabriella Cedillo, had to undergo brain surgery.[49] The injury has left her permanently brain-damaged, paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut.[50][51] Paramount admitted responsibility for the accident, and covered all medical costs incurred by Cedillo.[52] Nevertheless, on October 5, Cedillo's family filed a lawsuit, which cites seven counts of negligence against Paramount, D.W. Studios and several other defendants (not including Bay), with total damages sought in excess of $350,000.[53] Her attorney, Todd Smith, said "This was an attractive 24-year old girl who had dreams and aspirations involving acting, and this kind of injury may well have a serious impact on her dreams."[54] The filed complaint reads that "Cedillo has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering; has become disfigured and disabled; has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life; has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living; has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature."[54] In response to the suit, Paramount released the following statement: "We are all terribly sorry that this accident occurred. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with Gabriela, her family and loved ones. The production will continue to provide all the help we can to Gabriela and her family during this difficult time.”[54]
On October 11, 2010, while filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue, SW, a Washington DC Metropolitan Police K9 Unit SUV struck the Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film. The area had been closed off by the DC police, and it is not clear why the SUV was there. Both drivers were uninjured,[55] but the Camaro was severely damaged.[56]
Effects
As with the previous Transformers installments, the main visual effects company for Dark of the Moon was Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Scott Farrar as visual effects supervisor. ILM had been working on the pre-visualization six months before principal photography started, and ended up with 20 minutes worth of footage.[57] The effects were also handled by Digital Domain, responsible for 350 shots which included the characters Laserbeak, Brains, and Wheelie, the Decepticon protoforms hiding out on the moon, the space bridge, and a skydiving sequence.[58][59]
External audio | |
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Industrial Light & Magic's interview for the effects of the film. | |
Listen to the Interview |
Farrar said that "not only were the film's effects ambitious, they also had to be designed for 3-D", and added the company's solutions for the new perspective were lighting - "We did make sure things are as bright as possible; Michael called up theatre owners to make sure they keep the lamps bright in the theatres." - and "make everything a little sharper, because we know that through the steps, no matter what, when you get to the final screening things tend to go less sharp."[12] On the last weekend of ILM's work on Dark of the Moon, the company's entire render farm was being used for the film, giving ILM more than 200,000 hours of rendering power a day—or equivalent to 22.8 years of rendering time in a 24-hour period.[16] Farrar embraced the detail in creating giant robots for 3D, making sure than in close-ups of the Transformers' faces "you see all the details in the nooks and crannies of these pieces. It's totally unlike a plain surface subject like a human head or an animated head." The supervisor said that Bay's style of cinematography helped integrate the robots into the scenes, as "Michael is keen on having foreground/midground/background depth in his shots, even in normal live-action shots. He'll say, ’Put some stuff hanging here!' It could be women's stockings or forks and knives dangling from a string out of focus – it doesn't matter, but it gives you depth, and focus depth, and makes it more interesting."[60]
"The Driller consists of 70,051 parts. By contrast, Optimus Prime, the head Autobot, has just 10,108 parts. Due to the complexity of the Driller, and the fact that he lays waste to a skyscraper, only a few artists working with ILM's most powerful desktop machines were able to load the shots where the machine takes on the building. And they sometimes waited nearly an hour for the files to load."[12] |
— The Hollywood Reporter |
The most complicated effects involved the "Driller", a giant snake-like creature. In Revenge of the Fallen, it took 72 hours per frame to fully render Devastator for the IMAX format, which is approximately a frame amount of 4,000. For Driller, which required the entire render farm, it was up to 122 hours per frame.[57] The most complex scene involved the Driller destroying a computer-generated skyscraper, which took 288 hours per frame.[12] For said sequence, ILM relied on its internal proprietary physics simulation engine to depict the building beying destroyed, which included breaking concrete floors and walls, windows, columns and pieces of office furnishings. "We did a lot of tests early on to figure out how to break the building apart exploring a lot of the procedural options,” explains ILM digital production supervisor Nigel Sumner. “A building that's 70 feet tall – to go in and hand-score the geometry so when it fractures or falls apart – would be a time consuming laborious process. The floor of a building may be made of concrete. How does concrete fracture when it tears apart? The pillars would be made of a similar material but made of rebar or other engineering components. We'd look at how a building would blow apart and then choose the best tool to help achieve the properties of that during a simulation."[60]
The scenes in Chicago were mostly shot on location, as Bay believed the plates had to be shot for real in the actual city. The visual effects team used aerial plates of the city's actual buildings and added destruction elements – smoke, fire, debris, fighter planes, war, battles, torn up streets.[60] Four ILM employees also travelled to Chicago and photographed buildings from top to bottom at six different times of the day in order to create a digital model of the city to be used in certain scenes.[16] ILM's crew designed many major action scenes,[16] with many of the Chicago battle concepts coming from the helicopter shooting of the aerial plates.[57]
Animator Scott Benza said Sentinel Prime had a face "more human-like than any of the other robots", having a more complex frame and "a greater number of plates" so it could be more expressive.[16] ILM had based most of Sentinel Prime's features on Sean Connery, and after Leonard Nimoy was cast to voice the role, the effects were altered to incorporate Nimoy's acting as well. Every robot would take approximately 30 weeks to build visually. Originally, the fight between Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, and Megatron was considered to be on water in the Chicago river, but the budget was cut and the ILM realized that they would not want to present the final battle to Bay so they went with the battle taking place on the bridge over the river.[57] For a sequence where Bumblebee catches Sam and Lennox while transforming in mid-air, footage of Shia LaBeouf in high speed - so the effects team could time it for slow-motion - was combined a digital double of the actor.[60]
Since Bay always shoots his films in anamorphic format, the film's representation would be "squeezed in", so the image would be distorted, so ILM would have to add in the the robots, and "un-distort" the image.[57] The ample variety of filming formats used - single camera, 3D stereo rigs with two cameras, anamorphic and spherical lenses - proved a challenge, specially as ILM had a deadline to deliver the 2D plates to the companies responsible for the 3D conversion.[16] ILM made 600 3-D shots, and Digital Domain, under 200,[57] while Legend3D, the lead 3-D conversion company of the film, completed 78 minutes of work on the film and finalized the work of approximately 40 minutes of challenging non-visual effects and 38 minutes of visual effects shots.[61]
Marketing
Most of the characters returned for Hasbro's new toyline, which came out on May 16, 2011.[62] In October 2010, Entertainment Tonight previewed the behind-the-scenes filming in Chicago.[63][64] A two-minute teaser trailer was announced on November 27,[65] and was posted to the web on December 9, 2010.[66] A 30 second television advertisement for the film aired during Super Bowl XLV on Fox on February 6, 2011.[67] The first full theatrical trailer was released on April 28, 2011.[68] A 3D trailer was released on May 20, 2011 with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides 3D, which would complete the promotional campaign for Dark of the Moon.[69]The very first clip was released on May 18.[70] A second clip was released the next day on May 19.[71] The promotional costs brought the cost of producing and marketing the film to a total of $270 million.[72][73]
Score
The score soundtrack was released on June 24, 2011, five days before the actual release of the film.[74] Like the previous two Transformers film scores, Steve Jablonsky is the composer. The album was originally set for release in June 28, 2011 but Amazon.com listed the album as unavailable while the album was still being listed for release during the week of the the film's global release[75]. It was available for download on Amazon on June 30, 2011[75] and the score currently features 17 pre-recorded tracks that are featured in the final film, the score's length is approximately 59:47.[76]
Soundtrack
The album was released on June 14, 2011. Linkin Park's song "Iridescent" is the lead single for the film, continuing the streak of the band's songs as the theme songs of the film series. The single follows "What I've Done", being used in the 2007 film, and "New Divide" for the 2009 film. The music video for "Iridescent" was directed by Joe Hahn.[77] Two other singles were released specifically for the soundtrack, "Monster" by Paramore[78] and "All That You Are" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Several other unreleased songs make their debut on the album, including "The Pessimist" by Stone Sour and "The Bottom" by Staind.[79]
Novelizations
In May 2011, the novelization, junior novel and graphic novel of Transformers: Dark of the Moon were released. Both the novel and the graphic novel featured Skids and Mudflap as supporting characters, but they were missing from the junior novel. The graphic novel made reference to several Autobots from the IDW tie-in comics who died in the stories between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon.[80]
Video game
Activision published a video game based on Dark of the Moon for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS on June 14, 2011. The console versions were developed by High Moon Studios, who had previously developed Transformers: War for Cybertron, while Behaviour Interactive developed the Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game.[81] Electronic Arts launched an app adapting the film for Apple products (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad) on June 28, 2011.[82][83] In addition a high-definition version of the app was released under the name of Transformers: Dark of the Moon HD, also on June 28, 2011.[84]
Release
Transformers: Dark of the Moon premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2011. Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event.[1] Initially scheduled to be released on July 1, 2011, the release was brought forward to June 28, 2011.[3] It was announced in November 2010 that unlike Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, no scenes in the film were shot with IMAX cameras.[85]
Critical reception
The film has received mixed to negative reviews from film critics, with many praising the film's visual effects and 3D action sequences, but criticizing the long running time, the below average acting and the script; film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Dark of the Moon a score of 36% based on 227 reviews and a rating average of 4.8/10, saying "Its special effects and 3D shots are undeniably impressive, but they aren't enough to fill up its loud, bloated running time, or mask its thin, indifferent script."[86] Metacritic, another review aggregator, gave the film a MetaScore of 42/100 from 37 critics.[87]
Roger Ebert gave the film one out of four stars, calling it "a visually ugly film with an incoherent plot, wooden characters and inane dialog. It provided me with one of the more unpleasant experiences I've had at the movies."[88] Richard Roeper likewise panned the film, giving it a D and saying that "rarely has a movie had less of a soul and less interesting characters."[89]
Several critics were highly critical of the ineffectiveness of the film's two young stars. Peter Travers stated the two "couldn't be duller."[90] The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that Shia LaBeouf "plays Witwicky as if he had a ferocious case of attention deficit disorder. After two films, his fidgeting isn't cute anymore."[91] James Berardinelli said that LaBeouf "has sunk to greater levels of incompetence here. It's hard to call his posturing and screaming 'acting.'"[92] Much of the criticism towards Rosie Huntington-Whiteley compared her in an unfavorable light to Megan Fox. Lou Lumenick said that her "'acting' makes...Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep in comparison."[93] Baz Bamigboye gave his review of the film the title 'Come back Megan Fox, all is forgiven...'.[94]
For good or ill, Bay is the soul of a new machine, the poet of post-human cinema, the CEO of Hollywood's military-entertainment complex.
Richard Corliss from the Time magazine on Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
In a more positive review, Ain't It Cool News called it "the best entry in the Michael Bay-directed franchise."[95] IGN gave the film a seven out of ten, also stating that it was the best of the franchise.[96] E! Online graded the film a B+ while noting if this is truly the end of a trilogy, its main antagonists should have played more of a part.[97] Website Daily Bhaskar also praised the film, rating it three and a half out of five stars, citing it as an improvement to the previous film and how it 'gives fans something to cheer about'.[98] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film an A on an A plus to F scale.[99]
The film had many positive reviews, from both critics and the audiences alike, for its special effects and aggressive use of 3-D, leading some to call it the best 3-D experience since Cameron's Avatar.[100] Neil Schneider of Meant to be Seen, a website focused on stereoscopic 3D gaming and entertainment, remarked that "while Transformers: Dark of the Moon had the scrapings of a really good story, this 3D movie was shot with a 2D script." On the topic of 3D, Schneider said "Transformers 3 was a mix of native stereoscopic 3D camera capturing and 2D/3D conversion (as a 3D tool), and most was done very well." He added, "At a minimum, Transformers 3 demonstrates that fast cutting sequences are indeed possible and practical in stereoscopic 3D. More than that, it was a comfortable experience and helped exemplify great use of stereoscopic 3D with live action and digital characters. That said, I think they still could have taken it much further."[101]
Charlie Jane Anders of io9.com believed that some elements of the film were deliberate self-references to Michael Bay's own sense of under-appreciation after the backlash to Transformers 2. "After a few hours of seeing Shia get dissed, overlooked and mistreated, the message becomes clear: Shia, as always, is a stand-in for Michael Bay. And Bay is showing us just what it felt like to deal with the ocean of ocean of Haterade—the snarking, the Razzie Award, the mean reviews—that Revenge of the Fallen unleashed." She went on to say that the film's frequent, often jarring shifts in tone were an intentional endorsement of Michael Bay's own filmmaking style. "Tone is for single-purpose machines. Consistency is for Decepticons. Michael Bay's ideal movie shifts from action movie to teen comedy to political drama with the same well-lubricated ease that his cars become men. By the time you've finished watching, you will speak Michael Bay's cinematic language."[102]
Box office
Transformers: Dark of the Moon has earned $347,933,730 in North America, as of August 18, 2011, and $740,755,193 in other territories, as of August 18, 2011, for a worldwide total of $1,088,688,923, also out-grossing the box office revenues of both its predecessors: Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.[103][104] On its first weekend worldwide it made $382.4 million, marking the third-largest opening of all time behind that of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($394.0 million) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, and the largest for Paramount-Dreamworks.[105] It has made the second-largest worldwide debut at IMAX venues, with $23.1 million, behind the 23.2 million debut of Deathly Hallows – Part 2.[106] It reached $400M (5 days), $500M (9 days), $600M (12 days) and $700M (16 days) in record time, but lost all records to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.[107]
In the United States and Canada, from its early Tuesday screenings (9:00 p.m. showings), Dark of the Moon brought in $5.5 million. It also earned $8 million in midnight showings, which is lower than what its predecessor made ($16 million).[108] On its opening day (Wednesday), Dark of the Moon grossed $37.7 million (including $8 million from Tuesday-midnight showings), making it the second best opening-day gross of 2011, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($91.1 million), and the sixth best Wednesday opening day of all time.[109] But it's still behind Revenge of the Fallen which grossed $62 million on its opening day.[110] On Thursday it earned $21.5 million, falling only 43 percent which is a better hold than its predecessor's Wednesday-to-Thursday decline and also marking the fifth-largest non-opening Thursday of all time,[111] as well as the tenth largest Thursday gross of all time.[112] Transformers: Dark of the Moon was able to rake in $33.0 million on Friday for a total of $97.8 million while 2009's Revenge of the Fallen made $36.7 million on its first Friday for a total of $127.8 million. Opening at a record 2,789 3D locations, Dark of the Moon's 3D share accounted for 60 percent of its gross, which is atypical due to the downturn in 3D attendance in North America. For its 3-day opening weekend, it grossed $97.9 million,[113] marking the second largest opening weekend of 2011, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($169.2 million),[114] the largest Independence day weekend, out-grossing Spider-Man 2's $88.2 million opening record,[115] and the third-largest opening weekend in July.[116] It also scored the fifth-largest opening weekend for a film not opening on Friday[117] and the second-largest 5-day gross for a film opening on Wednesday.[104] During the 4-day weekend it grossed $115.9 million, surpassing Spider-Man 2's $115.8 million 4-day gross, which was the previous record for the Independence day holiday. The film held on to the number one spot for its second weekend, dropping 51.9%, in these territories and grossed $47.1 million.[118]
Overseas, the film grossed $32.5 million on its opening day, pacing 38 percent ahead of its predecessor. Including some early Tuesday previews, it earned $36.6 million in one-and-a-half days[119] and by Thursday, its overseas total reached $66 million.[120] By the end of its first weekend, it had earned $219.8 million, which stands as the fourth-largest opening weekend of all time overseas and the largest for Paramount.[121] Also, Dark of the Moon's foreign launch was 57 percent ahead of that of Revenge of the Fallen ($139.6 million), and its 3D revenues performed much better than Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in all 58 markets where 70 percent of the grosses came from 3D (this was a higher 3D share than Pirates 4's 66 percent).[122] Don Harris, general manager of distribution for Paramount, commented on the results of Dark of the Moon saying "If we hadn't chosen to debut the movie later in Japan and China, we probably would have had the all-time record." [123] On its second weekend overseas, it fell to $94.7 million, still at first place though at the box office.[124]
In Russia, it broke the record for the highest-grossing opening day of all time, with $5.0 million, surpassing On Stranger Tides's previous record ($4.7 million). It brought in $16,945,064 during its first weekend ($21,965,793 with previews), marking the fourth highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.[125] In South Korea, it earned $5 million, where it was the largest opening day of all time.[119] On its opening weekend, it grossed a massive $21.8 million ($31.1 million with weekday preiews), marking the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, a record previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($16.7 million).[126] It also made the biggest opening weekend of all time in six other countries topped by Hong Kong and followed by Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Peru. The film surpassed the record of Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It also performed well in other regions, including the United Kingdom ($17.2 million), Australia ($16.2 million), France ($11.3 million), Mexico ($10.5 million) and Taiwan ($10.5 million).[122] In Chile, it grossed $1,429,074 on its first weekend, marking the second-largest opening weekend closely behind Pirates 4's $1,448,284 debut. In Germany it opened at $13,169,446 ($15,087,829 with previews), surpassing the openings of both its predecessors.[127] In Hong Kong, it earned a record-breaking $5,060,905 during its opening weekend, by far the largest of all time. In Malaysia, it scored $4,928,400 which is the largest opening of all time. In Mexico, it earned $10,197,801 ($10,740,922 with weekday previews), marking the second-largest opening of 2011 behind Deathly Hallows – Part 2's record-breaking debut ($15.9 million) and the sixth largest of all time.[128] In New Zealand, it marked the second-largest opening for 2011 behind Deathly Hallows – Part 2's record-breaking debut ($2.46 million) and the fifth largest opening of all time, by earning $1,763,653 ($2,114,698 with previews).[129] In Philippines, it earned $4,869,897 ($4,886,654 with previews), marking the largest opening weekend of all time. In Singapore it made $3,508,095 ($4,120,240 with weekday previews) standing as the highest-grossing opening of all time. In Slovakia, it scored the largest debut of 2011 ($259,628).[130] In the UAE, it made the second-largest opening weekend of all time ($1,775,824) behind On Stranger Tides ($1,861,696).[131] In Thailand, it broke the opening weekend record, with $3,705,108 ($4,648,771 with previews) during the busiest weekend ever in the country in terms of total gross ($3,871,234). It was the first $3-million-plus 4-day weekend ever.[132]. In India, the English version of the film earns ₹12,53,00,00 Crores and the Hindi version of the film named Transformers: Chand Ka Andhera earns ₹ 4,96,00,000 Crores in three weeks.[133]
Accolades
Award | Category | Winner/Nominee | Result | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 Teen Choice Awards | Choice Summer Movie | Nominated | [134] | |
Choice Summer Movie Actor | Shia LaBeouf | Nominated | ||
Choice Summer Movie Actress | Rosie Huntington-Whiteley | Nominated |
Home media
During Hasbro Investor Day, it was announced that the DVD and Blu-ray Disc will be released in the fourth quarter of 2011.[135] The PAL DVD and Blu-ray Disc home releases of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Trilogy pack, Blu-ray 3D combo pack, and Collector's Edition) will be released in November 2011.[136]
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- ^ a b Ray Subers. "Around-the-World Brief: 'Transformers' Lays Waste to World". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
- ^ Frankel, Daniel (2011-07-04). "'Transformers 3' Scores $400M+ Opening at Global Box Office". The Wrap News Inc. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
- ^ "Around-the-World Roundup: 'Transformers' Dominates Again". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
- ^ "Russia - CIS Box Office June 30–July 3, 2011". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
- ^ "South Korea All-time Openings". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "Germany All-time openings". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "Mexico All-time Openings". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "New Zealand and Fiji All-time Openings". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "Slovakia Box Office Index". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "United Arab Emirates Box Office Index". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "Thailand Box Office Index". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ^ "Bollywood Earnings of July Last week". Travel-guide. Bollywood Movies.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Ng, Philiana (2011-07-19). "Teen Choice Awards 2011: 'Pretty Little Liars,' Rebecca Black Added to List of Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
- ^ Molbaek, Henning (2011-07-25). "Transformers: Dark of the Moon gets DVD and Blu-ray release date". DVDTown.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
- ^ Cooke, Stephanie (2011-07-27). "Potential November Release Date for Transformers: Dark of the Moon". Joblo.com. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
External links
- Official website
- Official soundtrack and score website
- Short doc on sound-mixing and effects
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at AllMovie
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at Box Office Mojo
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at IMDb
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at Metacritic
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at Rotten Tomatoes
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon at the TCM Movie Database