Michael Bay's first Michael Bay's best movies were already within the action genre, with some of them also being part of larger franchises. He directed Bad Boys and Bad Boys II, the first installments of the successful franchise that most recently released a fourth movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die earlier in 2024. It performed well at the box office and has led to the possibility of the series continuing with Bad Boys 5.

Between Bad Boys in 1995 and Bad Boys II in 2003, Bay directed the standalone movies The Rock, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor. It was not until 2007's Transformers that Bay began working on the long-running franchise. Since 2007, there have been positively-reviewed Transformers One. However, 17 years after releasing in theaters, Bay's first Transformers movie still maintains its popularity, as proven by it trending on Netflix.

With His 2007 Movie, Michael Bay Turned Transformers Into A $5.3 Billion Box Office Franchise Success

2007's Transformers Performed Well Domestically And Internationally

Before Bay's first Transformers movie, the franchise had already been popular since the 1980s. It had found success with television series, toy lines, video games, and comics, but had not made much of an impact when it came to theatrical movies. 1986's animated The Transformers: The Movie was the franchise's only theatrical movie and was not a box office hit. This changed when Bay's Transformers debuted in theaters 21 years after The Transformers: The Movie.

2007's Transformers made $709.7 million worldwide against a $150 million budget, grossing $319.2 million at the domestic box office and 390.5 at the international box office (via Box Office Mojo). Thanks to Bay, Transformers made the franchise an undeniable success on the big screen as well. This was the beginning of the further profits that would come in the ensuing years, leading to the franchise grossing over $5.3 billion since 2007 (via The Numbers).

How The Transformers Franchise Changed After Michael Bay's 2007 Movie

The Next Three Movies Were Even More Lucrative

After Bay's 2007 movie, the Transformers franchise continued to find more box office success, and generally became more mainstream. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made $836.5 million worldwide, while Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction each grossed more than $1 billion. All of Bay's Transformers movies were poorly received by critics, but the critical reception arguably paled in comparison to the franchise's ongoing box office hits.

Beyond the box office numbers, Transformers became synonymous with Bay's penchant for over-the-top, big-budget action sequences. This contributed to the movies' mainstream appeal and their ability to become well-suited to being summer blockbusters. Despite the importance of Transformers' human characters, they were never the main appeal. The absence of Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) in Dark of the Moon and the absence of Mikaela and Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) in Age of Extinction did not interfere with both movies grossing more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Why The Transformers Movies' Box Office Success Declined After Michael Bay's Exit

Multiple Creative Changes Have Not Led To High Box Office Earnings

Bay's last Transformers movie was 2017's The Last Knight, which began the franchise's box office decline. The Last Knight's $605.4 million earnings were a significant fall from Age of Extinction's more than $1 billion. After Bay exited the franchise, it went in multiple new creative directions. 2018's Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight and starring Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie, was a coming-of-age story that took place in the 1980s instead of in the present day. Bumblebee was far more favorably received by critics, who praised Steinfeld's performance and Knight's direction.

Screen Rant's Bumblebee review written by Molly Freeman stated that the "Charlie and Bee are the soul of Bumblebee in a way that showcases exactly what previous Transformers movies were lacking."

However, the positive critical reception did not translate to financial success, as Bumblebee was the franchise's worst-performing movie since 2007 with a worldwide box office gross of only $468 million. The next movie, the standalone sequel Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, did not do any better with a box office of $441.4 million, and did not garner positive critical reviews. With 2024's prequel Transformers One, the franchise changed creative directions again. It was the franchise's first animated theatrical movie since 1986 and was a standalone story that did not rely on the previous movies.

The Transformers franchise was already losing some of its mainstream appeal by the time The Last Knight came out and that has only become more true since Bay's exit.

Transformers One was a hit among critics and general audiences, but saw diminishing box office returns of $128.9 million worldwide. The Transformers franchise was already losing some of its mainstream appeal by the time The Last Knight came out and that has only become more true since Bay's exit. The numerous creative changes have not translated to box office success, let alone the impressive numbers achieved from 2007-2014. The Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover set up by Rise of the Beasts is still in the works, but otherwise, the franchise's future is uncertain.

Sources: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers