Transformers One's reviews were positive, with it being seen as a refreshing change of pace for the franchise. This reception led to a fresh 89% critical score and an even more impressive 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, Transformers One's box office was less successful. The worldwide box office total amounted to $128.9 million and a domestic opening weekend of $24.9 million (via Box Office Mojo). This is by far the franchise's worst global box office performance since 2007, with the previous low held by Transformers: Rise of the Beasts at $438.9 million. Transformers One also had the second-worst domestic box office opening since 2007, only narrowly suring Bumblebee's $21.6 million opening. These financial struggles have led to concerns about how the franchise will move forward after Transformers One.

Transformers One's Box Office Doesn't Guarantee More Animated Sequels

The Sequel Setup May Not Get Paid Off

Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) forming the Deceptions, Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) restoring the Autobots' powers, and the Quintessons being warned against returning to Cybertron are all compelling ways that Transformers One set up a sequel and paved the way for more animated installments. Unfortunately, the movie's lackluster box office performance does not guarantee that these sequels will happen. For Paramount, the narrative merits of further exploring Optimus Prime and Megatron's origins do not outweigh the money that the movie lost.

Transformers One's budget of $75 million was significantly lower than its live-action predecessors, all of which cost well over $100 million, and some even exceeded $200 million. Nevertheless, Transformers One's lower budget does not negate the animated movie's inability to break even at the box office, let alone make a profit. This may deter any decision to continue Transformers One's story, with producers instead looking to take the franchise in a different direction. The movie's performance is also noticeable in a year when there were many animated box office hits, including Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, and The Wild Robot.

Transformers Could Return To Bay's Version Of The Franchise After Recent Struggles

Michael Bay's Transformers Movies Generally Did Well At The Box Office

Since Transformers One's storytelling did not translate to box office success, the franchise may pivot to an approach more akin to Michael Bay's Transformers movies. While Bay's movies were not popular with critics, with all of them earning rotten critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes, they tended to perform well at the box office. Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction both earned more than $1 billion worldwide. Even Transformers: The Last Knight, which was Bay's worst-performing franchise installment, still made $605.4 million globally.

Rise of the Beasts' ending set up a Transformers and G.I. Joe crossover, and the franchise may choose to focus on this project instead of Transformers One sequels. Even if Bay does not return to direct the crossover, the project may lean into his cinematic style due to his past box office success and the mainstream appeal of his movies. However, this would be a mistake, as the franchise was already seeing diminishing returns under Bay when The Last Knight earned $605.4 million after Age of Extinction made $1.10 billion.

Transformers Needs More Movies Like Transformers One, Not Less

Transformers One Fixed Many Of The Previous Movies' Mistakes

Regardless of the box office results, Transformers One's overwhelmingly positive reception proves that the franchise needs more movies like the animated prequel. Transformers One ed that the Transformers are the heart of the franchise and not the human characters. By being entirely set on Cybertron, the story was able to take its time in exploring the wonders and fascinating intricacies of the Transformers' home planet instead of it only being briefly shown in flashbacks. As exciting as the opening flashback sequence to Cybertron was in Bumblebee, it was rewarding to spend far more time there in Transformers One.

Focusing on the Transformers, a story set on Cybertron, humor, animated action, a PG rating, and the emotional quality of the story are all elements that are beneficial for future Transformers movies.

Transformers One had plenty of humor and action and was rated a family-friendly PG. At the same time, it was a heartfelt and tragic story about the philosophical and practical division that formed between two close friends, which provided an emotional depth and stakes that were largely absent from the prior movies. Focusing on the Transformers, a story set on Cybertron, humor, animated action, a PG rating, and the emotional quality of the story are all elements that are beneficial for future Transformers movies. They should not be cast aside solely because of Transformers One's box office numbers.

A Transformers One Sequel Could Help The Franchise Recover At The Box Office

Several Factors Would Help A Sequel Financially Perform Better

Now that audiences are invested in Transformers One's story and know what to expect, a sequel is much more likely to perform better at the box office. Since Bay's first Transformers movie released in 2007, audiences have generally known what to expect from new Transformers movies, although Bumblebee did take a somewhat different approach. Between these expectations and Rise of the Beasts only releasing a year before Transformers One, audiences may not have been prepared or aware of the new direction the franchise was attempting.

Transformers One was the franchise's first theatrical animated movie since The Transformers: The Movie was released in 1986.

The marketing campaign would need to be stronger for a sequel as Transformers One's marketing was limited. It primarily showcased the movie's humor and did not provide much spotlight on the movie's many other strengths. With a stronger marketing campaign, more awareness, and more buy-in of what the franchise is now doing, better box office results are likely to follow. The recent success of Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, and The Wild Robot makes it clear that animated movies still have the full capability to thrive at the box office.

Transformers One's sequels performing much better at the box office could help the franchise financially recover from the losses that occurred during the original movie's theatrical run. Choosing to do nothing with the story after Transformers One's ending would be a wasted opportunity, especially given all the narrative avenues that are now in play. There is plenty that still needs to happen, as the conflict between the Autobots, the Decepticons, and the Quintessons on Cybertron is far from resolved and needs to be further explored in Transformers One sequels.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Box Office Mojo