For at least one generation of “Transformers” fans, the death of Optimus Prime in the 1986 animated feature “The Transformers: The Movie” was a formative moviegoing experience, if not a fully traumatic one. The backlash to Hasbro’s decision to kill off the Autobot leader to make room for new toys was so swift and loud […]

There’s more than meets the eye at the box office this weekend. Paramount and Hasbro Entertainment’s “Transformers One,” the franchise’s first fully animated film since 1986, has made $3.36 million in Thursday previews at the box office. The family-friendly film, directed by Josh Cooley (“Toy Story 4”), is expected to make between $30 million and […]

Will Optimus Prime and Megatron be able to scare off the Ghost With the Most? Paramount and Hasbro’s animated “Transformers One,” an origin story about the feuding Autobots and Decepticons, is targeting $30 million to $40 million in its opening weekend. Based on those projections, it’ll easily dethrone the two-time champion, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The spooky […]

Upon its release in 1986, Nelson Shin’s “The Transformers: The Movie” was massively influential — less as entertainment inspired by a popular line of children’s toys than one that was willing to kill off a major character in order to make room for new ones. The death of heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime proved so […]