By India McCarty
Take a trip back to the ’80s with Fathom’s upcoming 40th anniversary rerelease of THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE!
“For decades, TRANSFORMERS fans have carried this film with them, which is a testament to its storytelling and lasting cultural impact,” Alyse D’Antuono, Hasbro’s vp, global brand & franchise strategy, action brands, said in a statement. “Bringing it back to theaters is an opportunity for longtime fans to relive it together, and for new audiences to experience a defining chapter of TRANSFORMERS history.”
Related: TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEAST Earns No. 1 Spot At Box Office
While the 1986 movie was initially a box office dud, it went on to cultivate a cult following.
“Even 40 years later, this animated feature film remains a defining moment for fans across generations,” Fathom CEO Ray Nutt said in a statement.
In a 2013 interview, the movie’s writer, Ron Friedman, spoke about writing the movie and taking the action from the small screen to the big screen.
“You can’t do small screen action on the big screen,” he told ToddMatthy.com. “These are life-changing things, not momentary conflicts that can be resolved in an episode. That’s what I had to come up with: an overriding menace that would put the continuous warfare of the Autobots and Decepticons into a galactic scope.”
While THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE might not have been a hit, the intergalactic robot franchise would go on to spawn a series of successful live-action movies, including TRANSFORMERS, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN and TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON.
Movieguide® gave the first TRANSFORMERS movie a positive review, praising its “very clearly stated moral, redemptive and heroic elements,” as well as its commitment to “effectively us[ing] the cartoon history given to it.”
Producer Ian Brice spoke to Empire Magazine about the expanding cinematic universe of TRANSFORMERS, including prequel BUMBLEBEE.
“I think each one is somewhat reliant on the last one,” he explained. “If this movie [BUMBLEBEE] is well received then you make that judgement when the movie comes out and push to the next movie. It’s been that way throughout the franchise, we never really committed to the next one until the last one came out and we saw what happened. We’ve taken a one step at a time approach, trying to be faithful to the audience. If they still love it, we keep doing it.”
THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE will return to theaters Sept. 17 and run through Sept. 21.
Read Next: TRANSFORMERS ONE Slated to Score Big at Domestic Box Office
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