It’s been weeks since Transformers One released in theaters, and though it has been getting stellar reviews, it seems that it hasn’t been able to generate enough ticket sales at the box office. Everyone has been clocking it in as a flop, but the release of Joker: Folie a Deux and Megalopolis has somehow brought TOne back into the online conversation.
As it turns out, hype account @TFHypeGuy has been earning thousands of likes by simply trolling other films, and suggesting that other people watch Transformers One instead of that one.
Joker: Folie à Deux Gets Trolled in Viral Post
As fans have realized over the course of the weekend, @TFHypeGuy has been trying his best to get people to watch Transformers One, and his recent tactic just has him hijacking posts about another movie that hasn’t been getting the best reception i.e., Joker Folie a Deux.
These are some of the posts that have been going around:
The trolling doesn’t just stop at movies either. The account has also been promoting Transformers One on other artists' pages, and even former US President Joe Biden’s page:
What’s the Endgame Here?
With the Transformers IP being such a huge money draw for Paramount, an animated movie was supposed to be a huge gamble on the studios’ part; and while the movie did get a lot of critical praise when it released, an animated origin story about Optimus Prime and Megatron just didn’t seem to entice anyone who wasn’t 12-years-old or younger.
After all the new hype that @TFHypeGuy has been able to gather though, he’s expressed that he wants the movie to earn at least $120-140 million at the box office—enough for the film to breakeven and ensure a sequel.
He’s even urging that Paramount delay the release of Transformers One on digital as to give the time for word-of-mouth to spread and give the movie a fighting chance in cinemas.
Though it does look like the internet has become a huge factor nowadays when it comes to a film’s success at the box office, word-of-mouth can manage to resurrect movies after poor weekend openings. The most recent example would be that of Disney Pixar’s Elemental which didn’t make a splash when it opened, but slowly gained box office numbers after positive reviews have spread—ending its run at almost half a billion in the worldwide gross.
Is Transformers One Worth the Watch?
With Rise of the Beasts failing to make Michael Bay numbers at the box office, the Transformers franchise can be considered at an all-time low right now. There is a crossover in the works with the G.I. Joe franchise, but fans have yet to get an update on that film for more than a year.
Transformers One though, is a return of the IP to the animated medium, and though it may not have the big live-action spectacle, it still managed to wow critics with its impressive heart, and amazing dynamic between Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Chris Hemsworth does a great job taking over for Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, but the real star of the movie is hands down Brian Tyree Henry who voices D-16 a.k.a. Megatron. Though his anger could be hammy at times, his evolution from being Prime’s best friend to arch-enemy was a thrill to watch.
Hopefully, he has a great chemistry with Steve Buscemi’s Starscream should a sequel get greenlit.
For now, Transformers One is now showing in theaters.